


Hallam Ranger

by Emms99



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Rugby, F/F, F/M, I accidentally wrote a book, Lockdown madness, My First Fanfic, Slow Burn, Team Bonding, Team rivalry, Wayhaught - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:33:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 27,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24644131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emms99/pseuds/Emms99
Summary: Waverly's life has always been surrounded by rugby, so when she joined her university team as a fresher she wasn't expecting to the catch the eye of the rival captain.Nicole in her final year just wanted to focus on her team, her friends and her grades, but when a certain brunette catches her eye she starts to wonder what else of the world she's been missing.
Relationships: Jeremy Chetri & Nicole Haught, Jeremy Chetri & Xavier Dolls, Waverly Earp & Nicole Haught, Waverly Earp & Wynonna Earp, Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught, Xavier Dolls & Wynonna Earp
Comments: 31
Kudos: 100





	1. September: Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome,
> 
> so this is the first time I've published anything I've written before (be kind?), but the worlds gone to pot and I needed something to distract me from WFH, so I turned my hand to writing more than just technical reports. 
> 
> The idea came to me one day while walking home from work listening to some old 00's hip-hop. I've taken the life as a Hallam Ranger and my home city and wrapped my favorite couple in. I'm dropped a few names from girls I've played with over the years to help boost the team size.
> 
> Please let me know you're thoughts and feelings!
> 
> And just a heads up - I'm just some rugby lingo / Yorkshireism through out but I'll try to define them before you hit them.  
> First one of this chapter: Stash - we typically refer to team branded clothing as stash i.e. a hoodie or shorts that shows the team logo or name.
> 
> Thank you to my amazing fiancee for reading through this and letting me rant my ideas whenever.

# Waverly

Waverly had grown up around rugby, whether it was going to home games at Leeds Rhinos, feeling immersed within the crowd, feeding on the energy as fans would chant for their favourite player, or watching the Six Nations at Shorty’s while her Aunt Gus served the rowdy crowd throughout the game, hearing the locals shouting at the ref when they disagreed with decisions. She loved playing the sport, even more, she loved how she would ache for days after a hard scrum, loved the sheer glee when she’d dump tackle a girl twice her size, using the speed and agile movement she was naturally graced with. But most of all, she loved the bond that was forged by the fire of the sport while on the pitch for 80 minutes, where differences were put aside and the only thing that mattered was that the girl next to you had your back, and you had hers. It was the closest thing she had known to family, and she cherished that feeling.

Waverly and Wynonna, the middle child, had lost their father and their older sister Willa, when Waverly was six and Wynonna was nine, their mother already long gone before. It came down to their Aunt Gus and Uncle Curtis to take them in when it became apparent that no one else would. Neither Gus nor Curtis had planned on having children and enjoyed their life that way, but as family, they knew they couldn’t turn them away. It was a hard adjustment for them all at first, Wynonna acted out a lot at school for many years after the loss and though both Curtis and Gus were people of few words, knew they needed to reach Wynonna before her anger spread to Waverly. Unfortunately, Wynonna was older enough at the time of the loss to understand that it was their fathers’ fault.

Ward had turned to drink in the years since their mother’s departure. He had never wanted to raise three children, let alone doing it on his own. had been taking Willa to visit a private boarding school well away from Sheffield, hoping in time to ship them all away. He had been drinking, as normally, and misjudged a tight turn on snake pass didn’t make it back home. Willa was only 11 when she had died, and both girls still missed their sister.

In the months that followed with their aunt and uncle they slowly learned a new routine, Gus would take them to school, then work the day shift at the bar, and Curtis would pick them up once he was finished working at the furniture store. The pattern and reliability to the girls was new, they found it hard to adjust at first, but eventually, they realised they not only needed the stability, but they also thrived on it.

Roughly a year later when the girls had started to settle down, Curtis was waiting at the school gates for them, as always, and caught sight of an older boy teasing Waverly as she made her way to the gates, within seconds he saw Wynonna come up behind the boy and dump him on his back on the ground. Though he knew what Wynonna had done was wrong and would surely be reprimanded by the school, he couldn’t help being proud of the perfectly executed dump tackle she’d just performed. From that point on he took to teaching the girls the basics of rugby, by the age of 10, Waverly could throw the perfect spiral pass. Wynonna had already joined the local mixed team, and became a terror on the pitch, so much so that some mothers would tell their children to pass her ball rather than taking the tackle. Both Curtis and Gus were so proud of the girls, and always made time to come to games and cheer them on, they finally felt that they were able to pour their anger out into a healthy form of aggression. For years, the girls played on the same team and brought them closer together as sisters. Slowly over the years, they started to heal from their loss, though no one girl on the team could fill the void of losing Willa, they started to feel that the girls they played with became new sisters.

* * *

By the time Wynonna reached 18, she moved out to attend university, though she stayed local she wanted to know if she could stand on her own feet. She attended University of Sheffield to study Aeronautical engineering, though the math wasn’t always the easiest for her she loved working on cutting edge technology that could be used by millions of people each year, that she’d be working in a male-dominated industry that would allow her to be ruthless with her career was also a bonus.

Three years later and Waverly was finally able to follow in Wynonna’s footsteps and enrol in university it was a no brainer to attend Sheffield Uni. She had chosen to study History and Modern Languages and Cultures and had convinced her best friend Chrissy to also come to university so that they could live together for three years and put on being too grown-up for a little longer. Chrissy chose to study History and Politics, hoping to one day represent the local downtrodden communities and projects that were deemed too risky for the current City Council to fund. Wynonna was now in her final year at university and had been away the previous year working in Derby for Rolls-Royce, the absence hadn’t stopped Wynonna from becoming the captain in her final year. This put additional pressure on Waverly, not only to prove herself self-worth but also to prove herself to the team that Wynonna would be leading. In the month that Wynonna had returned from working, the sisters ran through drills. They spent weeks running sprints, carrying out ball-handling skills, and even worked on Waverly’s grubber kicks. Though Wynonna couldn’t demand that Waverly played for the 1st team, she didn’t want her sister to play for the 2nd team, they had fewer fixtures throughout the year, and she wanted her sister at her side while she played her final year at Sheffield. She had missed watching her back while on the pitch and working together out of a scrum.

In days before the first training session Waverly started to build her confidence about joining the team, she knew she’d be joined by many freshers, some of whom had never played before and she couldn’t wait to meet all the new girls and also get to really meet some of the girls that Wynonna would talk about while she was home, she met the likes of Widow, Mercedes Gardner, a few times, but otherwise, she was a little unsure of who’s face went with each nickname.

* * *

# Nicole

A few fun facts about Sheffield, not only did it house two football teams, but it also had two universities within the city limits, University of Sheffield, and Sheffield Hallam University. Hallam, as it is known by most was an old polytechnic college, and therefore to some was not as prestigious Sheffield university, a Red Brick University, but what Hallam lacked in terms of prestige it made up for it in heart and spirit. It offered a wide range of sports such as Canoeing to Ultimate Frisbee as well as a wide range of societies these ranged from a Disney Appreciation society to Knit Like Your Nana. Hallam let its student create almost anything if they had enough support, they would help fund the activity. For that reason, when possible students visited the two-campus university spread across the heart of the city they often feel in love thus pulling in a diverse range of students each year, wanting the full experience of university. Nicole Haught was one of those people.

Nicole came from Weymouth a small town in Dorset, right on the coast, she thought of it as the arse end of nowhere, Nicole couldn’t wait to leave and see the big city. Her parents didn’t understand why she didn’t go to Exeter or Bournemouth, why over 250 miles away in the middle of Yorkshire. The truth was, Nicole didn’t know why she picked Sheffield, plenty of places offered the course she wanted to study, but something about the city spoke to her, and when she visited for open day she fell in the love with the city. The architecture of the city was both and new, it was filled with drones of people at all hours of the day. The way the sun would hit the black stones off Howard street, (Hallam Hill as it was known to the students) almost blinding you in the middle of the day or sounds of the tram horns blaring when someone crossed the road too closely. Everything about the city screamed to be heard, and she found it intoxicating. It had drawn her in so completely that on the drive back, she told her parents that Sheffield Hallam was on the one for her, though they didn’t understand they knew Nicole had set her heart on the city, and they couldn’t want to say no.

During the first week of her course, Criminology and Psychology, she had met a tall dark-skinned enigmatic man, everything about him including his name, Xavier Dolls, spoke volumes of his mysterious nature. At first, they didn’t see eye-to-eye disagreeing (loudly) on how to handle their first assignment. Their lecturer had seen how they had butted heads so quickly that he couldn’t resist pairing them up for the assignment, he had hoped that by the time the assignment was due in 4 weeks they would be more agreeable towards each other’s opinions. The first week had been hard for Nicole, Dolls, as he preferred to be called, he had come across as arrogant and condescending, but as the weeks moved towards their first deadline, she had learned much about him. Dolls had told her he was from York and came from the typical overbearing family, and how they hadn’t wanted him to leave, wanting him to attend York St. John’s university but finally, after telling them that he needed to prove himself a man and stand on his own, his parents allowed him to attend university in nearby Leeds or Sheffield. He had picked Sheffield as it was further away, giving him additional space from his parents for three years seemed like a dream to him. Nicole had understood the need to strike out on her own and found the more time she spent with him the more she started to respect him.

Over time they had found out they shared more than just picking the same university and course to study, they had both been training to join the rugby union teams. As the months passed they became the best of friends, during their late-night assignment sessions in the Adsetts library followed by early morning pancakes from the Cabin Café on their way home they started to share more about what they wanted for life after university. It had not come to shock either of them that they both intended to serve the local community wanting to become police officers, to help people in distress and speak for those that couldn’t.

Before the first Christmas break, they had joined a local event security firm to help fund their studies and the social life that came with playing rugby, but also it gave them the best excuse to stay in Sheffield over the summer. A week after Christmas they had met a young and nervous Indian man by the name of Jeremy Chetri. He had joined the firm in hopes of forcing himself out of his shell. Though he wasn’t very good at telling people no, which made him a poor fit for the role, Nicole had taken a liking to the man, even though they were the same age Nicole saw him as a younger brother. Soon enough Jeremy was joining them during their all-nighters in the library, he was studying biomedical science and though the kid was clearly a genius he was happy to be included and would chug away at his relentless and work on his assignments while the Dolls and Nicole would work together to complete whatever their latest piece of work was. They soon became an inseparable threesome, Dolls with his gruff manner, Nicole with her cocky confidence and Jeremy with his smarts and sheepish nature, an odd complex three-some, but for them, it worked.

As the three returned home for the Easter break, they knew they needed to discuss what their second-year plan would be. At current, all three were staying in student accommodation, but between the loud music at all hours and the drugs that were rife within the buildings they felt it unlikely they would remain for a second year.

Nicole pulled out her phone and opened her WhatsApp app, she clicked on the “Squad Goals” group chat.

“Should we move in together next year?” she typed.

She’s expected to wait a few minutes and receive some questions about the situation from either of the men, but almost instantly she received two positive responses. Dolls simply stating “Sure”, Jeremy “Yass” followed by the dancer emoji and so the three sent the next two weeks on Rightmove looking for a three-bed property.

In the end, they found a great house a few miles outside of city centre, it had two different pubs just down the road and had a carport that meant Dolls could bring his Ford Ranger Wildtrak back from York, though Dolls choose to work, he didn’t need to, his parents were very well respected private doctors and always made sure that he was well cared for, which in turn benefited all residents of the house. The only downside to the property was that it was smack bang in the middle of Uni of territory, that meant a daily walk, in Hallam stash, towards their lectures.

* * *

A year later and the trio were entering their final year and were seriously thinking about what their next steps would be. Nicole and Dolls were thinking of applying to join the South Yorkshire police force, wanting to stay at the city for the foreseeable future, and if they could remain together then they couldn’t wait to hand their forms in. Jeremy was thinking of staying on at university and taking his Masters. They knew if everything fell together correctly, they could remain living together for another year at least.

Though Dolls hadn’t been selected to play for the first team when he had first joined two years ago the roster being full of returning player, he was allowed to play a few games towards the end of the season as players were off with injury or working towards their dissertations, he had been able to show his commitment and ability to read the game unlike most men his age and was selected as a regular on the starting 15 in his second year. He was just happy to play and though he attended some of the socials on Wednesdays he was much more comfortable joining Nicole at the women’s social, most thought he was trying to get action from some, if not all the players, but he just preferred to be in Nicole’s company and knew he could leave at any point without getting a “Dolls detention” which meant some form of shot, whatever was the cheapest at the current club.

Unlike Nicole though, he never went for captain, he was happy to just play and be a part of the team. When Nicole entered her name in captains race towards the end of her second year, she didn’t think she would win, much of women’s rugby came down to how many people liked you and though she was friendly to all the players on the team, she didn’t make a habit of getting too close to them after the drama of Shae in her first year of joining the team. When they announced that she had won the vote by a large margin, she had been truly shocked.

Now that she was captain, she knew she would need to be more present at team socials to promote team bonding that the previous captain, Betty, had so effortlessly pulled off. The first step in her plan was to rally the troops for the first joint training session of the year, this time she had the extra pressure of Uni of joining the session. Their training ground was currently undergoing a re-vamp and since the first session is light on contact the coaches thought it would be a great photo opportunity to show women’s rugby with such a high turnout. Numbers often dropped once the girls got their first taste of full-contact rugby. 

She knew she needed the team to come out of the starting gate with fury to get the points on the board while commit was strong. The rivalry between the two teams on the pitch was undeniable and having won last year’s varsity game Nicole intended to keep the momentum going. She knew this first session she had to reach as many newcomers as possible.

Though the two teams played the same sport, how they went about playing the game was dramatically different. Hallam didn’t care who you were, how fast that you ran, just that you were reliable and could catch a ball, the rest you could develop over the season, Uni of, however, they had a team of backs. Though well built, they could all run the legs of a gazelle. Hallam played forward heavy, and Uni of played the backs game. The problem with such a forward heavy game meant that they needed a full replacement available for the forwards. Running multiple crash balls, forwards running a ball until tackled and resetting, though effective, does hurt the body after 80 minutes of play. Nicole knew she needed some experienced front row to attend the session if they had any hopes at winning games this season.


	2. September - Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the first training session of the year and Nicole & Waverly finally meet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we finally have some dialogue & our first meeting - Let me know you're thoughts & feelings. I've been a little overworked so I'm sorry for any spelling mistakes!

# Waverly

The first few weeks of university had gone quickly for Waverly. She had attended the jobs fair at the Octagon Centre and managed to bag a trial shift at the student union working behind the bar. Waverly had helped at Shorty’s many times over the years, so she was sure they would offer her a permeant job. The student union comprised of a two-room night club, a bar, and numerous coffee and food outlets, it was a hive of activity no matter when she would call into the building between classes. The first week of classes was simple enough, mostly ice breaker activities or introducing the students into how the course would be structured. Most of the students in her classes were content to put off the learning aspect of the course for as long as possible, but Waverly was looking forward to digging into both the Spanish and Czech languages she had chosen to study in her first year as well as modern history that went along with the dual degree. She knew she had made the right choice with her degree even if she understood it would be hard work but that’s why she’d been adamant to maintain her rugby career, she knew she had to make her life more than just the books and rugby was always a good way for her to blow stream when things become a little too much.

* * *

Wynonna had told Waverly that the first session of training would be taking place at Hallam’s sports park. Though she had visited the ground before, each year the biggest day of varsity was held at the park due to the vast size of the complex, this time it felt different. She was nervous, she had met some of the returning players while cheering on Wynonna at home games, but she knew this would be the first time showing them what she could do on the pitch.

Waverly had driven herself and Chrissy in her little old reliable red jeep to the park and waited for Wynonna to pull up to show them the way to the changing rooms. She knew the way, of course, she’d spent an hour earlier that day on the website looking up the floor plan, she just didn’t want to be walking into the changing room without her sister. They had been waiting around 5 minutes when a double-decker had pulled up and loads of students had exited the vehicle. She saw over 50 students walk towards the beckoning lights of the sports park, some clearly returning students wearing their maroon Hallam stash, she wondered if it would be too soon to buy her hoodie, the black and gold always looked so smart on Wynonna. She was soon pulled from her thoughts as a voice had captured her attention, she couldn’t place the accent, but clearly, it wasn’t a Yorkshire accent. She was talking with other women, explained the shuttle bus timings, and how they were welcome to drive and car share in the coming weeks. She had laughed at something another girl had said, the laughter was genuine, it was light, and she couldn’t fight the pull at the corners of her lips smiling at the sound of infectious laughter.

As the girl came closer to the car, Waverly got a better view, she was stunning. She was tall, maybe a foot above Waverly, but muscular, she could tell from the definition of her quads as they rippled with each step under her shorts. She had luscious red locks that were plaited to stop it from getting in her eyes or being pulled, as was a common “accident” in most ladies’ sports. Waverly wasn’t sure what sport she played, maybe a footballer or hockey with her slim build, she sure had the legs of someone that ran. As she walked away, she saw the back of her hoodie with the words “Women’s Rugby Union” printed on the back. She couldn’t stop the “hpmf” that exited her mouth which wasn’t missed by Chrissy.

“You ok?” Chrissy asked, her eyebrows lifting quizzically.

“Yeah, just looking at the competition” she responded and nodded her head towards the redhead as she continued to walk away oblivious of the conversation that was going off about her.

“Yeah… competition…. sure!” Chrissy had challenged her, but before she could respond Wynonna knocked on the car window.

“Let’s go babygirl, hey Chris,” Wynonna said as she started towards the building and her friends that were just ahead, she turned around just once to make sure they were following her.

The previous conversation soon forgotten; Chrissy mumbling a few nervous words as they walked towards the changing rooms she’d never really played as much as either of the Earp sisters but was keen to try her hand at the game and getting to spend more time with her best friend at the same time.

The board of assigned changing rooms at the front desk told the girls they were in Room 10, near the back of the complex, they walked past the other rooms and heard music pumping in many, shouting and cheering in others. As they neared the back of the corridor, Wynonna almost collided with a hunk of a man as he ran from his changing room.

“oft” as the air left Wynonna’s lungs she looked up and saw whom she had crashed into.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there” he had a deep gravel-like voice and when his dark brown eyes looked into her she lost all the sass she was about to rain down on him and just smiled back at him. He backed away from the group of girls slowly carrying on heading towards reception. As he was about to open the door to the next corridor as someone else exited the changing rooms and shouted towards the retreating form.

“Hey Dolls, don’t forget to ask about the floodlights.” Dolls nodded as the player returned to the changing rooms. As he pulled open the door he turned back around and smiled quickly at Wynonna. She blushed and saw the eyebrow that both Waverly and Chrissy had given her.

“Shut up.” was all she said before continuing her walk toward the changing room.

“Who was that?” Chrissy had asked.

“I’m not sure, I think he plays for the men’s team?” Waverly had replied.

Because Wynonna had been working for the last varsity, she had missed Doll's first varsity game against Uni of, she wondered if she would see more of him that night, or in general. Back to the task in hand, she carried on walking towards room 10. When she busted threw the door, the girls cheered for her, and Waverly couldn’t help but smile proudly at her older sister.

“Earp, Earp, Earp!” the returning girls chanted and even some of the newbies joined in feeling the energy within the room.

“Alright, alright, that’s enough. Let’s get changed quickly and then we can have a quick chat before we head out.”

This version of Wynonna was new to Waverly, they hadn’t played together in 3 years, and in that time, she had clearly grown up a lot and was well fitted to the role of captain. She hoped she would earn the chance to see more of this version of Wynonna over the next year.

Wynonna put her bag down in the corner and tilted her head to indicate to Waverly that she and Chrissy could join her.

“Come on.” Waverly said as she pulled Chrissy with her.

Within a few minutes, everyone had their boots on and were sat on the benches awaiting their next instruction.

“Hi everyone, welcome the first training session of 2019! If you weren’t sure, I’m Wynonna Earp, please just holla Earp if you need me, I’ll be your captain for the year. Welcome to the newbies around the room, as we said at sports fair, you don’t need boots for today’s session, it would help in future if you could get a pair, I prefer studs over moulds, but as long they are rugby legal, buy what is comfy for you. Again you won’t need a gum shield today, but we’ll soon be going into contact training so please think about protecting your teeth, if you don’t want to wear one, that is your own choice, but Uni won’t be paying your dental bill. Please leave all your values in your bags, we’ll be locking the door behind us so don’t worry.” She then looked towards the redhead that Wavery recalled as Mercedes Gardner and nodded as she stood.

“This is Mercedes Gardner or Widow, she’s your vice-captain this year. She’s a bad bitch out on the pitch, so if she’s running towards you with the ball, get out of her way, and follow her arse, but if you need to ask a question and you can’t find me, ask her. We’re a family here,” she looked at Waverly now “but everyone has to earn the right to play.” With that, she clapped her hands together. “Now let’s head out there and show Hallam how it’s done and remember this is fun!” She walked towards the door, opening so that Mercedes could lead the team to the pitch that would be used for training tonight, while she held the door open and said some form of greeting to every girl that left the room, Waverly and Chrissy held back waiting for Wynonna to be finished with her greetings.

“When did you grow up?” Wavery smirked as she asked, and even Chrissy couldn’t help smiling at the comment. Wynonna locked the door and put the key in her zipper pocket for safekeeping they slowly made their way to pitch near the front of the complex. It was late September so they had another hour of good sunlight before the floodlights would be needed to pass the ball around.

“I don’t know, my first year here I and Widow were just badass bitches, it was great, but at the start of the second year, well we sucked. I kept trying to gee-up my pack before every scrum and slowly we got better, the last match before Christmas the coach pulled me aside and said I had what it took to be a great captain, I talked with Widow about it and she agreed. With being away for a year on placement I didn’t think I’d stand a chance of winning captain, so I entered my name for both captain and vice-captain roles. I still think Widow just paid them all off, but I want to take this seriously you know. Prove that I’m more than just a menace on the pitch that I can lead.”

“I’m proud of you Nonna” Waverly responded. Chrissy knew all the family history of the Earp girls and felt pride hearing that Wynonna was going to take the role seriously but knew better than to interrupt the moment the sisters were having.

“Thanks, babygirl, now shoo, find some other newbies to make friends with, your cramping my aloof appeal.” With that, she walked away and joined Widow and whom she assumed must be the coach, standing a little away from the rest of the team. He must be new to the team she remembers the old coach being late fifties and sporting a dadbod. This new coach looked only a few years older than Waverly, maybe in his late 20’s. He had a lean and muscular build, telling Waverly he liked to look after himself. He seemed an interesting character, he had a moustache that looked like it was pulled from a 70’s porno, it was full, dark, and past his top lip. He was wearing his black and gold tracksuit and help tuck his hair behind his ears. What Waverly noted most about him was his eyes, they shone bright blue. They had this piercing look about them, like looking into the sea that you could lose yourself in if you weren’t careful like you couldn’t lie when you looked into them. Though he had an honest look about him, something was a little off about him, she knew he had secrets within those eyes. He noted her looking at him and gave her a tip of his hat and smiled in her direction. Well at least he was polite it seemed.

As she finished taking in the coach in front of her, she turned towards the sound of thunder, it was the stomping of multiple boots against the grass not far behind them. The Hallam team was joining them on the pitch, now they had close to 100 girls on the pitch. Waverly hadn’t seen so many women at any session she’d been to before and it was quite empowering, the air felt charged as the Hallam team filled the gap between the two teams. It was going to be the perfect introduction for so many new women into the sport, and she knew any pictures that were taken would hold something special to anyone that was featured in them. The noise of girls chatting started to drop as they got closer, by the time they reached the other end of the pitch, joining Waverly and the rest of the Uni of team, everyone had gone silent. At the front of the pack was the redhead Waverly had noticed before. This time Waverly could see her in all her glory, she had shed her hoodie and was wearing a loose-fitting vest, her bright yellow sports bra clearly showing in the gaps of the vest. Waverly pulled her bottom lip into her mouth and bit down lightly as she raked her eyes over the sight in front of her.

She wore black and blue Gilbert boots, with her Hallam maroon rugby socks, pulled up her shins, black-crested shorts, and a Hallam training vest. She was a walking poster for the Hallam stash she wore proudly and frankly it suited her, much to Waverly’s frustration. Not only were her legs toned, but so were her arms, she evidently frequented the gym when she wasn’t playing or in classes, but what captures Waverly the most was her smile, as she came running on, she was talking with another girl, blonde, perky and smiling just as much as the redhead. A flare of frustration reared in Waverly’s chest as she saw the two together, they suited each other. The blonde was helping display the dimples that flooded the redheads face, and something about them invited Waverly to know her in a way she’d never experienced before.

As most of the team had turned around to watch the Hallam team approach Chrissy quickly saw where her friend’s attention was and smirked to herself. She knew she’d have to talk with Waverly on the drive home about what she saw going off in front of her.

The redhead and blonde stopped running just a few meters away and turned the rest of the team.

“We’ll be right back. Pirate keep an eye on everyone” a girl with floppy black hair nodded towards the two standing at the front. They joined another gent at the try line, he was their coach Waverly knew she’s seen him at both varsity games that Wynonna had played. He wore his white and maroon tracksuit that had “coach” written on the front and “women’s rugby union” on the back. He was early 40’s with a full black beard that joined his black hair and a few flecks of white were starting to show in his hairline. He seemed to command respect between the girls, but not from shouting at them. No, she’d never him raise his voice at the games, he had this gentler approach about him that worked with the team, they admired him. Waverly hoped their new coach would bring them a similar unity.

Waverly shallowed quickly, the two newcomers stood side by side with their coach on one side while Wynonna, Widow, and their coach stood on the other. The realisation hit her, not only did she play for the rival team, she was either the captain or the vice-captain.

Waverly was quickly brought out of her thoughts as the Hallam coach started the session.

“Welcome everyone, I’m Ryan the coach here at Hallam. I invited Doc and his team here for a joint training session to start the season off.” Once again Doc tipped his hat and moved his eyes through the crowd with a smile as Ryan continued.

“I know you’re training grounds are still undergoing renovations and we thought it would be good to bring everyone together to share some knowledge for the newcomers to the sport. This year we have Nicole as Captain” the redhead nodded towards her team, and slowly moved her gaze across the players, quickly capturing Waverly’s eyes where her pupils dilated enough for Waverly to notice and watched as Nicole’s smile widened. “Eliza the Vice-captain.” This time the blonde waved and quickly glanced at the crowd around her. “We’re going to start simple, get into a group of four and assign yourself a number, one to four”

Chrissy grabbed Waverly quickly hoping to work together, they soon were joined by two other newbies. Within a few more seconds all the girls were clinging to their groups. Quickly Doc pulled their attention.

“Good evening ladies, I’m Doc and though this is my first year coaching here at Sheffield, I’ve been involved in rugby for many years” Doc had this drawl in his voice that Waverly couldn’t quite place, she wasn’t sure he was British, but she was sure was a smoker with the way his voice rasped around the words as he formed them. “Wynonna and Mercedes here will be your Captain and Vice-captain this year” Wynonna gave the crowd her best finger guns impression which made Waverly laugh, clearly she wasn’t used to this many eyes on her, Mercedes just nodded while Doc carried on.

“Ones line up behind Wynonna here, two behind Nicole, three, Mercedes and finally all the fours behind Eliza.”

Chrissy audibled groaned, she’d hoped they would be working together, she started making her way towards Wynonna and the rest of the ones. Waverly knew the likely outcome of the first tasks, but to be put in the same team as the redhead, Nicole as she finally knew her name, was not how she thought the evening would go. She made her way over to a tall girl as she was crowded by 20 other girls.

Nicole cleared her throat as she waited for everyone to form in a line behind her.

“Hi everyone, can we form a big circle, big enough so that your arms don’t touch each other.” Waverly could see her eyes move around the crowd seeing who she’d be working with for the task, she noted how her eyes stopped roaming when they reached hers. She saw the hint of the dimples she’d seen before while she was talking with Eliza earlier, Waverly quickly looked down to hide the blush that formed on her cheeks. This was going to be interesting Waverly thought.

The girls quickly spaced out into the circle that Nicole had requested, it seemed that all four teams were setting up similar circles across the vast pitch. Nicole caught the ball that Ryan had tossed her way. She held the ball to her chest and looked around her circle once more.

“As Ryan said, I’m Nicole, most people call me Haught or Red on the pitch, I’ve played for around 5 years, and I currently play at flanker here at Hallam. I’m going to pass the ball around the circle and I’d like each of you to tell us your name or nickname if you’ve played before, how long for, which team you’ll be joining and what position you think you’ll be suited to and then pass the ball along.”

She passed the ball to the girl on her left who told everyone that she was new to the sport but that her friend Pirate had told her to join the Hallam team. The ball slowly made its’ way around the circle until it was almost Waverly’s turn to catch the ball, some of the girls before her had never touched a ball before, they didn’t even need to tell her, the way they would try to catch the ball far away from their body gave them away before they spoke. The girl that was about the pass the ball to Waverly was evidently not used to catching a ball, she’d introduced herself as Stephine Jones and that she would be joining the Hallam team, throughout she looked Nicole up and down while telling everyone about herself. Waverly watched in slow motion as she held the ball like a hot potato as it made its way towards her, she knew the second it left Stephine’s hands that it was too low and she’d never bend in time to reach the ball. On instinct she moved her right leg to help intercept the ball, when she knew she’d placed it perfectly she lifted her right foot and taped the tip of the egg-shaped ball, she watched it change direction mid-air, it whizzed past her head reaching the apex of its climb, as it started to slow down and descend towards her again she put out her arms like one would to cradle a baby and caught the ball effortlessly and brought her arms towards her body securing the ball. had helped her direct the ball towards her arms, kicking an odd-shaped ball often made it difficult to be sure of its final destination and she was pretty chuffed with herself for getting it right.

“Hi everyone, I’m Waverly, I’ve been playing for around 10 years, I’ll be joining Uni of, and I typically play flanker but have been known to swap into the centre if needed” she tried to look around at the faces as they listened to her, but she could feel the pull of the red head’s eyes needing to be met, she caught them for a few second before she turned the pass the ball on to the girl left as instructed. She threw a perfect pass, even if the girl hadn’t known how to catch, she had aimed it dead centre so that the girl need only close her arms around the ball to stop its path. She couldn’t help it, she looked back towards Nicole and found she had still been watching her. She had a look that Waverly couldn’t fully decipher, but she knew she’d left a lasting impression on the captain. She just wasn’t sure why she cared what the redhead had thought or that she’d wanted to impress her. The ball continued its path for a few more minutes before it reached Nicole again.

“Well done. Next, we’re going to speed things up, I’m going to throw the ball to someone, shouting their name, you must know their name before you throw it, you run around the circle if you don’t, catch the ball and quickly pass it the next person, don’t worry about passing backwards, just do what you can for now while we pick up the tempo.” She looked around quickly scanning the circle for her target, she knew the moment she heard Waverly speak that’s where she’d be sending her ball. She wanted to test this girl out. Waverly was wearing baggy black joggers with a simple baggy off the collar black t-shirt, her black and yellow Canterbury boots were the only indication that this girl had been playing for years, they had different colours of tape layering the boots. She clearly liked them and didn’t want to part with them so would repair them rather than replace them.

“Waverly.” Nicole said clearly into the expanse of the circle, she wanted to know if she could handle it, so she passed her a fastball, aiming at her chest where her hands were already up waiting to accept the ball. Waverly had been watching Nicole, as her eyes made their way around the circle, she saw her body tense up before she shouted her name, watching the ball fly towards her. Waverly caught the ball naturally and smiled at Nicole before turning just enough to allow for an easier pass before she lined up with the girl at the opposite end of the circle.

“Abi.” She launched the ball in the direction of one of the new starters, it reached the girl at a slower speed than the ball she had just caught but it was too slow so that is was starting to drop in the air, the new girl caught the ball well.

The ball was passed around in quick succession for a few more minutes before the coaches pulled everyone back to the centre of the pitch. Once everyone was back in the centre Waverly and Chrissy found each other again, Chrissy was smiling, she looked like she was enjoyed the session so far.

“Great work ladies, we saw some great handling skills out there. We’re going to be splitting into forwards and back shortly, I will be taking the backs and Doc will be taking the forwards. But first, two laps of the pitch, Nicole if you would lead them.” Ryan spoke addressing both teams.

“Ok, this way girls.” Nicole started at a strong pace in hopes of spreading the number of girls into a line rather than a mass of bodies huddled closely together.

“So, what is she like then?” Chrissy asked as the number of girls thinned as they followed Nicole around the outer perimeter of the pitch.

“Who?” Waverly uncertain for a second.

“The captain, Nicole, the redhead you’ve been looking at since she got off the bus?” Chrissy stated like it was the only logical answer to her question.

“What?!” Waverly miss timing her step as they rounded a corner going a little wider around and pulling a few questioning faces to her outburst.

“I haven’t been looking at her, she’s the captain I’m just trying to find her weak spot, she plays flanker as well, so I need to know where she’s weak so I can get around her when needed.”

“Right. But what is she _like_?”

“She’s…direct? She has a mean fast pass, no doubt she has skill. Seems the coach has respect for her. It should be a good season.”

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it” Chrissy responded.

Before Waverly had a chance to respond though they had finished their laps.

“Ok girls, quick drink and head over here if you’re a back, and head towards Doc if you’re a forward. For those who aren’t too sure, just hold up in the middle for a second.” Ryan briefed the girls as they started towards their water bottles near the edge of the pitch.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you afterwards.” Chrissy threw over her shoulder as she walked to join Ryan and the other backs. Waverly started her path towards Wynonna and Doc.

The next hour went by quickly, Doc walking through the basic skills to play the sport. They ran simple drills passing a ball down the line as they ran in formation, learning how to catch a ball correctly and pass effectively. I was nothing new for Waverly, but it was fun to take the pressure of winning or scoring out for a short while and just get to meet more of people she hoped to be playing with and against for the next three years.

“Ladies, to finish up we’re just going to play a simple game of touch. We’ll split into four teams, forwards v backs. Splitting the forwards down this line.” Doc used his arm to indicate where the split was. Waverly looked over the find Wynonna on her team and so was Nicole. Maybe now she would have a chance to see what kind of player she was.

“Backs split here” following the same method that Doc had used Ryan carried on explaining the exercise. “Left teams use the top half of the pitch, right teams, use the bottom half. When you’re touched stop and pass the ball. This is about using the skills you’ve just learned. Running with the ball, passing, and catching. Remember ladies, run on to the ball. You’ll gain more ground.”

Waverly, Wynonna, Nicole, and the rest of the team made their way to the far end of the field.

“Let’s jog it on ladies” Nicole shouted as she made her way over to start the game. Wynonna gave Waverly a quick look before she jump-stepped into a fast jog making her way to the far end. Within a few minutes, the two “teams” were standing in straight lines facing each other.

“Right ladies if you’re on the back team can you please take a bib, put it on, and pass them down the line.” Doc waited until the last bib was handed out.

“I will kick the ball into the centre, the first team to get the ball with be on the attack in a V formation, the other team with need to maintain a straight line for their defence. Remember this is just touch, two hands please, and stop when you’re touched. No extra steps.” Doc called the rules of engagement before the game started and lined up the ball with his boot awaiting the kick to signal the start of play.

For the first few minutes of play, the backs seem to be making good progress towards the makeshift try line. They were quick off the mark, passing the ball before or just as they were caught, soon though the forwards, without bibs, started to smoother any advances, forcing the play to slow down, it soon forced the bibs backwards, unable to pass the ball and make ground. Waverly could see a gap slowly form in the line ahead of her, she knew if she timed the next pass correctly she could intercept the ball and turned over play in favour of the non-bibbed forward's team, maybe she would even get lucky and score the first try. She saw the player with the ball get a touch from Wynonna, and as she turned around to pass the ball backwards Waverly called out, “with me” the universal sign for someone to follow her ready to receive the ball next. She ran forward and started to extend her arms outwards to catch the ball as it flew toward the next player in the line, she caught the ball with a thud to her chest and held it tightly in her arms, she quickly looked over her shoulder to find that Nicole had been the one to follow her call, let see if she can keep up Waverly thought. She plotted out her path in a split second in her head and committed. She saw the faces of the girls as she ran past change slowly from dumbfound to understanding as she progressed towards the try line.

As she drew closer to the try line, she saw the gap she had originally planned to exploit was no longer viable, the bibbed team reforming their line. Nicole a few steps behind also saw, “Waves, ship right.” Waverly didn’t think, she looked right, saw Nicole waiting and she shipped the ball. Nicole’s hands were outstretched in front of her awaiting the ball to make contact, as it did, she saw Nicole wrap it under her left arms. Waverly watched as she carried the ball the extra 10 meters over the try line and touched the ball down before anyone could stop her, scoring the first point of the match.

* * *

# Nicole

“Babygirl, when did you learn to steal a ball like that” Wynonna had caught up with Waverly and had thrown her arm around her shoulder while they walked back to the centre of the play area. Waverly couldn’t help smiling at her older sister but quickly turned her head to find where the other captain was.

Nicole wasn’t completely surprised by how quickly Waverly had taken off when she’d incepted the ball, she’d been watching and analysing her most of night and she’d conclude that her simple outfit of baggy joggers and t-shirt hid every muscle underneath, she was clearly athletic, Nicole couldn’t deny that but she was also graceful with how she moved. How she’d stepped around the outstretched arms of the opposition while holding onto the ball, she was effortless. She’d watched in awe as she’d kicked the earlier low ball upwards to catch it naturally. She’d even tried to throw the younger girl off with a fast pass, but it didn’t even phase her, and the smile she’d received had started a fire in her stomach that she hadn’t felt before.

But now she was confused, she looked over to where this younger girl was stood close to her rival captain. She was surprised when Earp had put her arm around her shoulders and called her baby girl, she didn’t know she’d been into girls, but she should have known better than to assume anyone’s sexuality. She knew she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t a little disappointed that this new girl was taken, something about when their eyes would catch each other’s sent a shiver down Nicole’s spine. She scolded herself for already wanting to get the know this younger girl so much, they hadn’t even truly spoke to each other.

She pulled her eyes away from Waverly’s form and passed the ball back to Doc as she started to return towards her team.

“Ginger spice!” she heard Wynonna call her over and couldn’t help but roll her eyes, but she was still with Waverly so she made her way over anyway, so drawn to the girl she was unable to stop her feet from moving towards the pair.

“Babygirl over here says you kept pace with her pretty well, thanks for watching over my little sister”

“Sister?!” Nicole couldn’t stop the shock from entering her voice as the words left her mouth as she looked between the two girls that stood in front of her.

“Yeah, can you not see the family resemblance? “Wynonna eyed her suspiciously.

Before Nicole had a chance to respond however Doc called their attention, bringing them back to the game at hand. Nicole still internally reeling at the sudden development she tried to listen to Doc’s words as he went over the next exercise.

“Well ladies, we’re almost out of time for this session, one final task before we pack up for the night. We’re going to get use to presenting a ball after a tackle. Waverly would you mind allowing me to use you for this demonstration please.” Waverly walked towards him while he carried on speaking. “When you’re touched, I want you quickly go to the floor and present the ball. For those new to this, that means turning your body towards your team and _presenting_ them with the ball.” As he spoke, he laid on the floor and loosely cradled the ball between his hands and pointed them towards Waverly. “No stealing allowed at this stage please, I want you to work on getting back up to pace after a tackle, or breakdown. Waverly, you will work as number 9 for this team. This means Waverly will be the one who touches the ball after each tackle and will pass the ball to the next player.” Waverly understood what he was asking, she started to lower her body towards the ball, mantling it to allow for the most protection of the ball, while it was still in Doc’s hands, she went to collect the ball as if she was about to the ship the ball for the next player. As she contacted the ball Doc passed a quite comment only intended for Waverly’s ears, Nicole unable to hear what the other coach had said, but she was sure it was something supportive as she saw Waverly’s demeanour shift, she watched as her shoulders hardened up, ready to play. What she noticed most was the smile that played on her lips as she stood up to face her team and re-join the line, she felt her lips pulling at the edges as she caught herself watching the younger girl once more.

“Now we need a 9 for the other team,” pointing at the line of backs still wearing their bibs.

“If you wouldn’t mind reminding me of your name little miss.” He said as he pointed to a small skinny girl with black tight curly hair. “Eggy…well, it’s Lauren, but everyone calls me Eggy” she responded with a small smile as she told him the nickname that Nicole had given her during her first game two years ago.

“Well, then Miss Eggy, can you please play the 9 for your team after the breakdown?” Eggy nodded her head just once, acknowledging the request.

“Bibbed backs, start with the ball and remember it must be a two-handed touch and you must get to the floor quickly with the ball and present to your team” Doc reminded them as he passed the ball towards the bibbed team and he watched the group and saw a few heads nod ready for the next challenge.

“GO!” he shouted to signal the start of play.

At first, the bibs were on the attack, keeping in their V formation but unable to make much head away pass the defence line. The forwards saw each time where Eggy would be passing, she’d often have to remind the person receiving the ball to get their hands up to help catch the ball, allowing Nicole or someone else on the team to touch the player as they received the ball slowly pushing the team further backwards. As the ball went out of bounds after being fumbled by a fresher Nicole looked over and saw Eggy talking with a few of the older players, she knew she had a plan and that things were about to get harder, thankful for the oncoming obstacle. Doc returned the ball to the girl who had mistimed her catch previously and gave the girl a few encouraging words, before restarting play. She made two steps before she was surrounded by the opposition. She went down with the ball and Nicole watched as Eggy went to collect the ball from the player. She signalled to the player closest on her right and started to wind up to throw the ball, Nicole watched as her team moved closer to Eggy and the girl she indicated to receive the ball ready to lay hands and stop play once more. Nicole, in turn, started to drift closer to the breakdown while maintaining the defensive line. At the distance she was at, she knew that too many girls had crowded around the breakdown, and she knew instantly what Eggy was about to do. She smirked as she watched Eggy throw the ball towards the girl she’d signalled, but it was too wide, too deep, it was going further back and deeper into the V-formation. She saw a girl she’d seen play on the Uni of team, but she wasn’t sure of her name: Mayo, Badger? She wasn’t sure, but it didn’t matter.

“Spread out!” Nicole shouted, she knew they had to act quickly to stop the girl from making too much ground, but it was too little too late. The girl had been running towards the ball as it left Eggy’s hands and by the time she’d caught the ball, most of the defensive team were too far away, distracted by the dummy pass and unable to stop her advancing. Nicole knew she had to intercept the player, she went barrelling after the girl, but she was faster. Even at full speed, Nicole could see her inching away from her outstretched hands, she willed her legs to move faster, in the vain hopes of catching the girl. She saw a whisper of brown hair in her peripheral, someone else had joined in the chase, that support gave her the needed encouragement to pushed herself harder pumping her arms and legs faster and finally she saw the gap shorten. She looked over her shoulder and found that both teams had turned and were giving chase, but it was Waverly that was overtaking her and gaining the most ground towards the girl with the ball. She was faster than Nicole had thought, she’d need to work harder this year if she were going to maintain some distance on the pitch between the two. Waverly was quickly closing the gap between herself and the girl with the ball, Nicole could see the try line getting closer, unsure if Waverly could reduce the gap before the girl could touch the ball down. Nicole pressed harder trying persistently to close the gap, she knew she wouldn’t make it, but had to try.

It felt like an eternity that Nicole had pushed her body towards the ball and try line, it was harder than she’d worked in months, but in reality, it was only a few seconds that had passed. She watched as she bibbed girl touched the ball down on the grass moments before Waverly almost collided with her, adjusting herself at the last second so as not to crash into her. All three of them bent over sucking in deep lungsful of air trying to regain their composer. Within seconds both teams had joined them, the backs were celebrating their try and the forwards grumbling at their mistake of bunching together. Nicole’s head was still down, she was mentally kicking herself, she knew she had her work cut on this year, she needed to get faster and train harder. Her and Dolls were going to run 5K tomorrow after classes.

As she stood there, she felt a familiar presence close by, she turned her head to find a familiar pair of black joggers in her field of vision. Her heart rate started to increase once more as she straightened to look at Waverly.

“You saw that play before anyone else, sorry I wasn’t fast enough to catch her.” Waverly said as she held her gaze only for a split second before she turned her eyes towards the grass as her arms wrapped around herself.

“You’re joking, right? Had you not been at the other end of the pitch you would have had her, not to mention if it were full contact, you would have barged into her and stopped the try.” Nicole wanted to say more to help the brunette understand that the fault was a team fault and not her own, but before she could speak another word Wynonna joined them.

“Babygirl! I’ve only ever seen you run that fast for vegan taco’s!” Nicole might have questioned their family bond before, but in that moment, she knew Wynonna had said the one thing that made Waverly smile. She only wished she’d been the one to make her smile.

“Great spot ginger spice.” The comment earned Wynonna an elbow to the ribs from Waverly which caused all three of them to laugh for a moment.

“Well done ladies, that was a perfect example of a dummy pass, and great commitment on chasing girls. We have a few minutes left, we’re a 1-1, let's see if we can get one more try. Non-bibs if you could start the game.” Everyone quickly returned to the centre of the pitch to resume the play and Nicole found her eyes drifting to Waverly whenever she had the ball, and playing as 9, meant she had the ball quite often. Seconds before the whistle blew Nicole watched as Waverly pivoted over the ball her bum in the air, she watched as Waverly picked up the ball turned her head, catching Nicole’s gaze she blushed slightly, peaked an eyebrow and launched the ball in her direction. Her instincts thankfully kicked in and she felt her body shift forward moving towards the ball. Thankfully, most players missed the interactions between the players and Nicole’s momentary lapse of thought. Before Nicole had to worry too much about her next steps however, she was saved by the bell, well the whistle. Doc whistled to indicate the close of play. Nicole saw a ghosting of smirk on his lips as she looked over to him, she just hoped it wasn’t because of her. 

“Great session tonight ladies. I’m looking forward to working with you and seeing you all play over the next year. If you could all head back over towards Ryan, we’ll wrap up and get you on your way home.”

Nicole kept her head down as they returned towards her coach and vice-captain, she knew if she looked up, she’d search for Waverly, but she’d caught her red-handed ogling her. She was beyond embarrassed. She didn’t even know if Waverly liked girls, let alone like her, but she quickly formulated a plan to find out. She needed to get back to the changing room quickly and find some paper before the girl left.

“Great work out there this evening ladies. Thank you for all you newcomers, women’s rugby isn’t shown enough media representation and it fills me with immense pride to see you all out there working together. I wish the ladies of Sheffield university a great season, and I look forward to seeing you in a few weeks for our first derby game of the year. Hallam ladies, since we don’t have a game for a few weeks, Wednesday evening we will be training at Endcliffe Park from 6 pm. I’ll see you all in two days. Now get changed and head home. Great session ladies.” With that, the players turned around and headed back to the changing rooms. Nicole started into a jog, shouting that she’d get the changing room opened. She just needed a few seconds alone to pull out her notebook and scribble down her information before anyone caught her or she changed her mind. She had to know more about Waverly Earp.

She hadn’t however calculated Eliza would match her speed and follow her step for step to the changing rooms.

“So… see any good _players_ out there tonight?” Eliza laced the comment with enough mockery Nicole knew she’d been caught. She turned her head slightly to catch the sight of the smirk that was on full display on her lips. Nicole instantly flushed red.

“I knew it! Who is she, I caught the sight of your little one-two try earlier but never caught her name?”

“She’s Earp’s little sister” Nicole knew that was the only information that was important at this stage.

“Well… I guess I’ll be taking over as captain after your funeral then.” Eliza joked she knew of Wynonna’s rep she’d played against her for two years before she’d taken a gap year to travel.

“She’s not that scary, is she? Plus, Waverly is her own person, she can make her own decisions.” Nicole wanted to brush of Eliza’s comment, at least for now. She needed to focus on the task at hand first.

Soon enough they had made their way back to the changing room and Nicole had opened the door.

“So, what’s the plan killer?” Eliza seemed genuinely interested and though she was still teasing, Nicole felt that she could trust her with the information.

“I’m going to go and find her and give her my number”

“That’s it? No sweeping her off her feet gesture, no flowers or chocolates?” Eliza sounded surprised.

“No, I’d rather keep it simple” Nicole had been occupied with writing down her phone number on the paper she had ripped from her notebook to think too much about the plan. She knew within seconds the rest of the team would enter the room and she still needed to usher them back to the waiting bus.

As if on cue, the rest of the team entered the room.

“Ok ladies, we have 7 minutes before the next shuttle bus leaves. I will meet you all near the bus and make sure it waits for you, but please be quick.” She spoke loudly as the girls energetically entered the small room to change back into their normal clothes. Nicole chose to remain in her training kit and just pushed her socks down as she swapped her boots for trainers. 

“Eliza, can you please hurry them up and lock up as you leave, please? I’ll save you a seat?” She knew from first year that Eliza didn’t drive, like most students she found getting around Sheffield easy enough using public transport.

“Sure thing, Haught.” Eliza nodded.

“Thanks,” Nicole said as she started towards the doors.

“6 minutes ladies” Nicole shouted one more time as she exited the door.

Nicole was the first out of the building the bus only containing the ladies hockey team that finished 15-minutes earlier. Nicole knew Waverly must have driven or had come with Wynonna she was hoping she wouldn’t have to deal with the older Earp when she gave Waverly her number, but she would cross that bridge later. She stood watching the minutes tick by, many of the girls from both teams were now on the bus or had gotten into their cars and driven away. She saw Eliza make her way down the path towards the bus, she looked at her watch again she only had three more minutes before the bus was set to leave.

“I’ve saved us the front seats, will you sit with everyone, I’m still waiting” Nicole mentions as she rubs the back of her neck, her impatience is starting to get the better of her.

“Don’t worry Romeo, she’s just around the corner. You’ve got two minutes. You better make an impression.” Eliza smirked as she walked past Nicole and got on the bus taking the front seat that Nicole had saved them.

Nicole started to tap her feet and looked at her watch once more. Just over 60 seconds. She was just about to lose hope and turn around and get on the bus when she saw long brown hair blowing in the cool autumn evening breeze. Nicole’s breath hitched in her throat she was beautiful, she hadn’t noticed Nicole yet, she was stood with the blonde girl Nicole had seen her with at the start of training, they must be friends, Nicole hoped. She had mere seconds to give Waverly a way of contacting her, she jogged towards her. Waverly stopped walking when she saw Nicole approaching her, Nicole watched as the blonde mumbled something to Waverly before she continued walking.

“Hi, sorry I wanted to come over and properly introduce myself. I’m Nicole, Nicole Haught.” Nicole offered her hand towards Waverly and lifted her cheeks to show the dimples she was gifted with, watching as Waverly took her hand without breaking eye contact.

“I wanted to see what you were doing tomorrow night?” Nicole pressed on, knowing she didn’t have long. She saw Waverly shallow and lick her lips at the question. She was starting to feel more confident as she talked to the brunette.

“Oh, I’m sorry I have plans, I’m a planner you see, I like to know at least three days in advance.” Wavery rambled, clearly a little nervous around the older girl.

“I understand, it’s just when I see something I like, I don’t wanna wait.” Nicole couldn’t miss the flicker of amusement that passed over Waverly’s face, but before she could say anything Eliza shouted her. It was time to go. She pulled the piece of paper from her back pocket and offered it towards Waverly.

“I have to go, but some other time” Waverly took the paper and noticed what was on the paper she blushed. Nicole walked a few steps away before she turned back.

“I mean it.” Giving Waverly her full attention and smiling like she was the only person in the world at that moment before turning and running on the bus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact - I've had the pleasure of playing with all the additional named girls while at university & the cheeky bum check out is exactly what my fiancée did to me! 
> 
> Next, we'll be carrying out initiations for our freshers - expecting lots of drinking and confessions!


	3. October - Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So the first of the October chapters is very short in terms of timeline, but it's very in-depth for the team, lots of drunkenness all around, some cheeky dutch courage, team initiation for Waverly & Chrissy, and Nicole gets sweaty for multiple reasons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Earpers, sorry I've been so quiet for too long. 
> 
> Between family visits, wedding prep and a crazy workload I've been sitting on this chapter for longer than I care to admit. I hope I've solid the whole university life well enough, because this is all about team bonding!!
> 
> For the readers who didn't play sport at university or college, I'm afraid to say the practice of initiation may be lost on you, but I promise (for many of us) it's just a good night, with your team.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it, and please let me know you're thoughts!!
> 
> Stay safe guys.

# Waverly

The next few weeks went by in a blur. Waverly had started to make friends in her lectures and the workload was starting to pick up. She found she was excited most days to learn new pieces of information about the modern history of Europe and useful phrases for the languages she’d selected. She’d regularly return home to the small flat she shared with Chrissy enthusiastically telling her the latest information she’d learned that day and for the most part, Chrissy would try to stay focused while she listened to Waverly rattle on nodding her head along as required.

Three weeks after their first training session, both Chrissy and Waverly had been told that they would be selected to join the 1st team, and although Waverly acted all calm and collected when she was told with the other selected team members, she allowed herself a small victory dance when she was alone in her room that night, Chrissy had, of course, caught her as she was blasting music through the walls. Both girls had excitedly clung to each other and jumped around for a few minutes before coming down from their high. Wynonna hadn’t been surprised with the level of commitment that she had seen from her younger sister, and had made sure she’d told her how proud she’d been to hear that Doc and Mercedes had suggested her name to play for the 1st team. Waverly knew how hard Wynonna found opening up and speaking her feelings, so when Wynonna had simply stated that she was proud of her, Waverly found not only was she proud of her sisters' growth but also delighted that her hard work wasn’t being missed. 

Although Waverly felt that she was starting to become the young woman she’d spent years working towards, she was finally studying two things she loved, she was playing the sport she loved, and she was with her closet family and friends every day. But… One thing still confused her. What did she want from Nicole? What did she want from this tall, stunning, and confident woman? When she’d thought back to how much she couldn’t keep her eyes away from Nicole’s form. Even weeks later she’d still find herself staring at a wall while she’d absentmindedly trace her lips with her fingers while she thought about her strong form or the way her dimples would show when she smiled. Mostly she thought about the look that they had shared as Nicole had walked away from her towards the bus. Even now she’d feel herself blush when she thought too much about the look she saw in Nicole’s eyes. Sure, she’d had people lust after her before, her ex-boyfriend Champ had that look whenever he had seen her, but with Nicole, it was more than just lust and desire she saw within her brown eyes. It was a look of promise, a look that meant she’d cherish her, a look of understanding. She’d replayed the memory over in her mind and each time she’d been shocked at how one simple look had altered all she’d known until that moment. 

Yet she hadn’t dared to use the paper that Nicole hadn’t given her. She hadn’t texted or called her, she’d been unsure of what to say, or what she was feeling. So she would stare at the piece of paper when she would get into bed each night, she’d long since memorised the information, but she would find her fingers tracing the letter’s to Nicole name thinking about the older redhead while she’d lay in her single bed alone night after night.

One night she’d given in to curiosity and found her on Facebook and did a little research while she was sat watching tv with Chrissy. She’d been stunned into silence as she scrolled through the few images available as the majority of her profile was locked down, but she’d seen pictures of the redhead at what she’d assumed was the annual sports ball, held at the end of the year to celebrate all teams and sports while awards would be handed out to individuals who had achieved something remarkable in the past 6 months. She’d hovered over the image of Nicole, wearing a form-hugging simple black dress that showed her in a completely different light to the women she’d met at training weeks ago causing Waverly to bite her lip before she knew it. The change in Waverly’s demeanour not lost on Chrissy. She’d been able to lean over and catch a glimpse an of the image before Waverly turned the phone away, resulting in Waverly blushing while Chrissy smirked and gave her the same pointed look that Waverly had been receiving since Nicole had left her holding the piece of paper weeks ago. Once more encouraging Waverly to live her life and have some fun and reach out to the older woman.

In addition to the team listing announcement, a second announcement was made early into October. As part of joining the rugby team, the girls were invited to a “welcome party” and though their presence wasn’t mandatory it was advised that players attend the event as the first Wednesday social. It would be the first time that many freshers would be exposed to the other side of rugby. Train hard. Play hard. Drink harder. Training and playing matches together would create a team, but the bonding happened best off the pitch. Drinking, singing, and party games allowed the ladies to blow steam and get to know each other better.

A few days before the welcome party, Wynonna had come over to Chrissy’s and Waverly’s for dinner and see how her little sister was settling into her new routine of working, training, and attending lectures. They had settled in the living room after dinner with a cuppa each, to discuss the upcoming event.

“A welcome party?” Waverly asked.

“We’re not allowed to call it initiation anymore.” Wynonna shrugged like it was common knowledge.

“Why not?” Chrissy joined in.

“Erm… well. The men’s team got really smashed and handcuffed the freshers together. Naked.” Rolling her eyes at missing the show.

“Oh.” Was all both Waverly and Chrissy could manage to get out between laughing and blushing.

“So now it’s a welcome party, and everything is optional. But it’s more fun if you fully invest in the experience” Wynonna smirked while she responded.

“More fun for you, you mean right?” Waverly stated. She had seen the pictures from Wynonna “welcome party” the night would only end one way and though she was nervous to see what the theme of the event would be, she looked forward to bonding with the team.

The welcome party theme and activities were always created under the air of secrecy, more for fun and tradition than any other reason, the surprise and suspense was half the reason it was carried out each year. This year they had been directed to bring a bottle of booze and wear a simple white t-shirt. Whenever Waverly had tried to get more information from Wynonna, she would only receive a sarcastic quip about ruining her fun.

* * *

The night started well enough. Her and Chrissy arrived on time, as directed because being late meant being fined or worse downing a pint. Being a fresher came with certain expectations, one of those was being asked to down any drink in your hand at any given moment when at socials. Thankfully being an Earp would come in handy for Waverly this year.

They knocked on the door of the house they were told to meet at and waited for an answer. The house was rented by a group of final year students, but most importantly it was rented by the two social sec’s of the team, Bilbo, and Panda. It was their role as social secs to organise each week’s social event theme, the welcome party, and other events throughout the year to promote team unity.

The short stature of Bilbo had greeted them at the door and immediately after entering the student house they were presented with a choice of bandanas. One blue, and one red and told to pick which. Once again, the girls understood they would spend the night apart rather than together as they had hoped. Waverly selected the blue and Chrissy took the red and once they were wearing them, they were allowed into the living room of the house where other freshers were in two groups. Waverly joined the rest of the blue team, the blue Tasmanian devils as their captain Panda called them, while Chrissy joined the red team, the Red Dingo’s and was captained by Bilbo. While they waited for latecomers, they were advised to add their alcohol to trough and get a drink.

Trough was a rite of passage, it consists of whatever a team would bring, the only things you could not put in trough was beer or cider. No matter what it was mixed with it would always look and taste disgusting and finding good gluten-free alternatives was difficult. Typically, a team would use a bucket or trug like object to store and mix the drinks in. Trough allows students to share the cost of going out and drinking, and it made pre-drinking an experience. Chrissy had brought a bottle cheap vodka and Waverly had brought a small bottle of Southern Comfort she’d snagged from Shorty’s on her last visit.

This week, the liquid was mostly brown due to the amount of coke that Waverly had witnessed being poured into the container after she looked at the liquid she wasn’t surprised to find out that lemonade had also been used in the mix. The two soft drinks had combined and resulted in a large frothy foam settling at the top of the pints. In the few minutes that Waverly and Chrissy waited for the stragglers a total of 4 bottles of spirits had been poured into the bucket along with the soft drinks. Although the drink had a strange look to it, the flavour was drinkable, in small sips. Waverly knew she would need to pace herself throughout the night if she hoped to remember everything that was about to unfold.

After she’d had decanted her alcohol and collected a pint from the bucket Waverly looked around the room and noted small groups of players around the room. Most she recognised from the training sessions, but others were new faces to her, likely other people’s friends. The small room was full of around 30 women varying in age between 18 and 25 all chatting and even dancing to whatever song was playing on the small TV in the corner of the room. She saw women of all sizes and shapes, religions, and colour all united under one roof in the name of Sheffield University rugby team, it always humbled her how the sport could reach so many different people.

While Waverly waited, she walked around the large house and found Wynonna in the kitchen with some other old girls drinking and chatting about their summers.

“Babygirl!” Wynonna swayed as she hollered at her as she moved closer, she was clutching a half-empty bottle of Whiskey as she embraced her sister with the other arm.

“Nonna! Are you drunk, already?” Waverly wasn’t at all surprised, she was more amused to see her sister relaxed. She’d been in a state of constant distress since returning for her final year of study, she’d already been working late nights in the library to create her proposal idea for dissertation.

“This whole night is aimed at you. Well at all the freshers, but you’re included in that. Plus, I don’t have some tall and mysterious ginger chasing after me…” Wynonna brought up.

“Hey now Earp, I’ll always be chasing after you.” As if on cue, Mercedes walked into the room and put her arms around the older Earp kissing her temple as if to illustrate her point.

The whole team had heard about the attention that Waverly had received from Nicole the previous month and although Waverly still wasn’t sure what she thought about the whole situation, she still blushed at the comment, something that was missed on Wynonna but not by Mercedes.

Thankfully before another more could be said they heard some commotion coming from the other room as the last few girls had arrived.

“Ladies. Settle down, please. Welcome to the first Wednesday social of 2019! This year Panda and I have planned the welcome party, and we’ve taken a leaf from down under. This year’s theme is ‘I’m a celeb get me out of here!’ You’ve been split into two teams and you will be spending the evening competing for stars together to help bring home the winning cup.” At this Bilbo pointed towards Panda who was holding a yellow mug. The crowd laughed at the bad joke but understood that losing wasn’t an option.

“If everyone would please collect a **full** pint of whatever you’re drinking and please make your way to the garden for our first round of the competition.” Were the final words from Bilbo’s lips as she walked towards the back of the house and in turn the garden ushering the older girls of the team to follower her.

The younger girls started to fill up their pint cups and slowly made their way through the house towards the back garden. The two social secs had truly outdone themselves. They had turned the small garden into a small obstacles course with a small paddling pool at the centre, they had used tiki torches to light up the length of the garden. To one side of the garden a picnic table that the two social secs were now stood upon.

“Welcome ladies. This is I’m a rugby player get me out of here” Panda illustrated with her hands waving them around to show them the set up the garden had taken. A small grin started to spread on her lips as she continued to talk at the girls who were watching her. She explained that the first team challenge was a boat race.

Drinking something fast Waverly knew she’d surpass most of the team, she was an Earp after all, but she aimed for a more friendly competition, so she made sure she stood side by side with Chrissy when the two teams started to line up.

Both teams consisted of 10 freshers each, they all looked happy to be there, ready for whatever the night had entailed. Some of the girls were already leaning or had flush cheeks that told Waverly there were already tipsy. She hoped that they could still manage to hold their drink ahead of the drinking challenge.

“Ok ladies… for those new to a boat race. The rules are simple. When we shout go the person at the front of the line drinks, and they drink until their cup is empty. You then place your **empty** cup on your head upside down, and then the next girl starts to drink. We keep going until the one team completes their line. They win the round and the point will be given to them.” Panda explained to both teams.

“Does that make sense ladies?” Bilbo said as she looked around and saw a handful of nods encouraging her to start the race.

“Ok then. If everyone is ready. Let’s get this show on the road” Bilbo said as she looked at the two lines ensuring that everyone had a drink ready for the start of the game, finding that everyone was ready she turned to Panda and nodded her head.

“Ready, set, GO!” The two girls said in unison.

Instantly the two girls at the start of the line started to chug down on their pints and within seconds the rest of the team started to shouting encouragement to drink faster. Chrissy and Waverly were fourth in line, so far the red team had been leading the race and so Chrissy was able to start her pint while the small girl in front of Waverly was starting to gag around the last few mouthfuls of her trough mix.

“Come on Keeno! You’re almost there now!” Waverly couldn’t help but screaming encouragement at the girl in front of her, getting sweep up in the fever of the competition. However, it must have been enough because the girl pinched her nose and downed the last mouthfuls before turning the cup around and placed it around on her head. Waverly turned to see Chrissy struggling, she’d managed to drink around half her pint but was currently taking deep breaths through her mouth to help ease the burn at the back of her throat. Waverly grinned deviously over to her best friend and started to lift the cup towards her lips. She caught sight of Chrissy lifting her cup once again, but Waverly focused on her drink, as she started to pour the contents into her mouth. Her mouth started to fill with the potent liquid, she knew if she stopped chugging her taste buds would have time to catch up and that she’d struggle to finish. So, she didn’t stop pouring, she’d learned how to swallow while keeping her mouth open years before and like some many times before it helped her pip the victory. Within seconds she’d finished the cup and turned to see Chrissy with still struggling through the second half of her pint, she also saw Wynonna give her a nod and lifting her drink to salute her to her victory. Finally, the blue Tasmanian devils were winning the race and Waverly turned to shout further encouragement towards her team to speed up and ensure their current lead wasn’t wasted. It was a close finish, at points, the blue team would lead and at others, the red would, with only a few mouthfuls between the two teams, in the end, the blue devils pipped the post and won the race.

Everyone shouted and cheered once the race was complete. Some of the freshers were starting to show signs of their drink hitting them and Waverly had to laugh seeing how little liquor some of the girls could hold. She hoped they would develop a lead stomach over the course of their first year in the team.

“I never doubted you for a second! Well done team!” Panda walked over grinning and congratulated her team raising her hands to high five anyone close enough.

“You’ll have to teach me that trick Junior!” She looked towards Waverly while passing the comment.

A few of the team had taken to calling Waverly “Junior” being the younger of the two Earp sisters. She didn’t hate the nickname, but she did hope it wouldn’t stick and that she wouldn’t live in the shadow of her older sister.

“The next round will be quick-fire bush tucker trials. Two members from each team will compete against two members from the other team, each member will be given a plate of food they must eat. The fastest two will win a star each. We’ve made allowances for our veggies and vegans on this, so you won’t be able to compete for this round. You’ll, however, be expected to compete in the final challenge.”

The next round passed in a blur for Waverly, she watched as bugs, chicken feet and different forms of organs were presented to the girls. Some girls would gip while they tried to stomach the food that was presented to them all the while their teams cheering them on. She now understood why the boat race had been first, best to have started on empty stomachs she thought. Waverly couldn’t help but laugh as one of the girls funnelled a large bunch of mealworms in their mouth and then pouring a large measure of trough before she shallowed both finishing the trial long before anyone else. She was glad she didn’t have to compete in this section, but she could see how the ordeal was creating strong bonds between the girls sat around the picnic table.

She was starting to understand what Wynonna meant about throwing her all into the night. It was messy and frankly disgusting at points. But it was an ordeal that everyone went through each year and it showed how much metal you were made of off the pitch. She caught herself thinking about what Nicole had gone through for her welcome party but was quickly pulled from her thoughts as Chrissy came towards her.

“I bet you’re glad you don’t have to eat any of this! I think someone threw up their chicken foot near the trees.” Both girls laughed at the sheer obscenity of the sentence while looking over to the offending area.

“I’m not sure that the last stage will be any better though!” She knew the obstacle course spread around the garden still hadn’t been used and she couldn’t believe that it would be a simple as jumping over a few things. 

As if on cue Bilbo stood back on the picnic table moving the paper plates that had been used in the last round. She waited until Panda joined her on the table before she spoke to the group.

“Ladies, ladies. Well done getting through the last round, it looks like we’re going into the final round with the score quite close. As you might have noted we’ve set up a small obstacle course that you see before you. Anyone who did not compete in the bush tucker trails will have to complete the course, you’ll need a total of five girls on each team.” Bilbo and Panda waited until the two teams selected their five girls to take part in the challenge.

“You’ll take it in turns to running from the starting line to paddling pool, from there you will need to spin around on the spot 10 times, then collect a ball from next to the pool and run with the ball to the end of the garden” Panda pointed to where Wynonna stood at the bottom of the garden to show where the girls needed to run to. “Place the ball with Earp before you make your way back to the start line. As you can see, we’ve set out some simple obstacles out. You jump over the tackle pads we’ve laid out, then chicane through the cones and finally make your way back to the pool and simple bob for an apple. Once you’ve got an apple return to your team and let the next girl start. The first team to complete the five runs first wins the evening.” Panda clapped her hands as she finished explaining the path that would be required to complete the course. 

Waverly turned towards her team to discuss tactics to help them win the competition, they stood in swaying huddle for a few minutes while the rest of the team started to line the length of the garden ahead of starting. Chrissy stood near Wynonna and Mercedes at the rear of the garden, having spent little time with the two girls other than at training the past few weeks she looked forward to spending more with the girls. Chrissy had noted how close the two girls had become as the night had passed, throwing their arms around each other whenever they laughed about something together or the lingering looks that she had caught. She wondered if Waverly had noted their close friendship. Before she had time to think about discussing the topic with Waverly her thoughts were interrupted by Bilbo telling everyone to line up before the race started.

Waverly had discussed with her team to start first so that she could use her speed to get a lead on the other team, at least she hoped she could. Although she hadn’t eaten anything during the previous round, she had her drink topped up a few times by older girls, so she wasn’t as stable on her feet as she’d hoped. They lined up ready to start. Waverly took a quick deep breath to help calm her nerves before they started.

As soon as the breath filled her lungs, she heard Panda call for the start of the race. Waverly surged forward with sure footing when she reached the centre of the garden where the paddling pool was waiting, she felt the girl she was racing close on her heels. While Waverly started to spin around, she forced her eyes to focus on Wynonna and her friend while she turned around. One, two, three, she started to feel her eyes slip shut, and forced them back open and to stare at her sister, four, five, six. She noted now that it wasn’t just her that was counting her rotations, the girls on the side of the garden closest to her were counting with her. Seven, eight, nine, 10, as she got closer to 10 the noise increased. She finished and stood for a second to re-focus her balance before she dared move.

“Come on Waves” she didn’t need to look up to know it was her sister who was calling for her. She sucked air into her lungs and forced her mind back to the task. She started to reach towards the ball that she had drifted towards while she spun around, picking the ball up and starting to run while the other girl had completed her final spin. She found she was staggering more she hoped for but was still faring better than the other girl who had stumbled into the pool much to everyone’s delight. She pushed herself closer towards her sister, zigging left and right as she moved closer.

Finally, she felt her brain catch up and sense that she was no longer spinning and her balance return to her as she put the ball down next Wynonna and start to turn around to complete the second half of her lap. She easily cleared the jump over the tackle pads that had been laid out and weaved her way through cones effortlessly, feel more confident with each step. She had made her way towards her final stop at the paddling pool all the while the other girl had only just started to make her way over the tackle pads, her balance slower to return.

Waverly started to bend her knees as she got closer to the pool while she grabbed a bunch of her hair so that it didn’t get too wet while she took the plunge to get the apple. Her first attempt at grabbing the apple resulting in a near miss, allowing the other girl to make her way over to the pool as well. She didn’t waste time bunching her hair and threw her head into the pool while she struggled to get an apple. The hair thankfully getting in her eyes allowing Waverly enough time to grab the apple and biting down firm enough to hold the apple in her mouth while she stood up and returned towards her team allowing the next person to start the course. She received high-fives from the other on her team as they awaited their turn, proud of being the first to finish the course.

She watched on as the rest of the team compete to win the victory cup, in the end however the blue team won the course much to Chrissy amusement. She paraded the mug around the garden, holding it up high in the air chanting how her team had smoked the other. Waverly took the loss in her stride - she knew that winning hadn’t been the aim of the evening. It was about taking part and getting to know the team, of course, Wynonna commented on how only a loser would think that before high-fiving Chrissy.

All in all, the welcome party had only taken around two hours and after the completion of the obstacle course everyone returned inside to the warmer house. Most were now starting to feel the influence of the evening, but it was hardly passed 10 pm, the night was still young, and games were next on the agenda of the evening. As a good way of getting to know each other, they played I’ve never. A staple part of any Wednesday social.

The game started as you’d expect, asking who’d never been kissed or who was still a virgin, but shortly the game descended into chaos with girls teasing each other over secrets and rumours. They started to ask about who had kissed players on the men’s teams and then finally asking who on the team had kissed another girl, of course out and proud girls on the **spectrum** quickly lifted their drink while others were more sheepish to drink. Wynonna, not one to be bashful about her actions lifted her drink at both questions and took a large measure of the bottle she’d been nursing through the night. In the shock revelation, Waverly missed the look that passed between Wynonna and Mercedes, Chrissy once again questioning their friendship in the moment.

“Don’t be so shocked babygirl, you can go find your Haught-sauce and join the **bandwagon** ” Wynonna said in hope of distracting her sister and the rest of the team regarding her admission. The team now in a state of drunkenness hollered and whooped at the passing comment. Waverly still unsure on her thoughts around the topic couldn’t help but blush at the thought of kissing the taller redhead. Maybe that’s exactly what she needed to do?

The hardest part of any social was herding everyone into taxis to continue their night in town. Herding sheep was often easier than directing 20 to 30 young females who were already quite drunk. Taxies were ordered and were filled with girls before they were sent towards town. The first stop of their night was on the city’s busiest nightlife street, West Street. The street stretched over half a mile and was full of pubs, clubs, and takeaways. It was where most students congregated every Wednesday night, but always alive with a hum of activity most nights of the week.

The team started in an 80’s late-night bar as it was still early, hitting town before 12 was considered early, but it getting to the bar was easier. The older music playing meant that team mostly filled the dancefloor after entering the bar, allowing Wynonna to pull Waverly towards the bar before the others joined them. 

“What do you want babygirl? Your first drink is on me for making the team and bringing the Earp duo back together.” Wynonna grinned knowing she’d have her sister join her back on the pitch once more.

“Wyn you don’t need to.” Waverly knew that the offer was genuine but still struggled to accept.

“We both know this is a one-time deal. What do you want, or I’ll order you a double fireball” Though both girls loved their whiskey they agreed that cinnamon and whiskey should never be mixed.

“You wouldn’t!” Waverly truly disgusted at the idea of Wynonna buying the drink.

“You’re right, I wouldn’t. So usual?” Wynonna shrugged while she turned towards the bar to get someone’s attention to order their drinks.

“Please.” Waverly finally accepting the offer.

After Wynonna flagged down the nearest barback and ordered two JD’s and cokes, handing one to her younger sister. After they clinked glasses and downed their drinks, they made their way to the dancefloor and joined their friends, Chrissy and Mercedes making their circle larger to allow the girls to join them. They continued to dance in their group until they were pulled towards the next club, it was newly opened and comprised of five rooms over three floors. The perfect club for the team as it offered such a range of music, others agreed as the queue to the club had taken 15 minutes. When they finally made their way inside, they were greeted by a waft of warm sticky air that hit them the moment they made it through the doors. It made the air in Waverly’s lungs feel heavy and she started to feel her body warm-up, glad she’d only worn a t-shirt and short for night out. Chrissy was excited to get back on the dance floor and pulled Waverly with her, Wynonna, Mercedes and a few others made their way to the back of the room and closer to the speakers that were blasting out a mix of R&B and dance tracks. When they thought about going to get another drink, they found it was another good song and they needed to stay and dance along.

As more time passed and Waverly danced with her friends, the hotter she became, the air was stifling she needed to get a drink. She pointed towards the bar and indicated she was going to get a drink with her hands, most remained while Chrissy joined her and they made their way through the crowd slowly as they continued to move with the music that was going on around them. Finally, they managed to make their way close to the bar. Waverly stopped dead in her tracks and Chrissy who had been following closely behind collided with her.

“What’s wro…Oh!” she shouted as she followed Waverly’s gaze and saw that Nicole was ahead of them, waiting at the bar with a few girls that she remembered from the joint training session last month. She looked at her friend that she’d been teasing for weeks over the redhead and knew she’d have to help them both out. She grabbed Waverly’s hand and started to pull her towards the bar before she had a chance to stop their advancement.

“Chris!” was all Waverly managed to yelp before her best friend thrusted them right into an unsuspecting Nicole.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry I didn’t see you there! Oh hey… Nicole? Right?” Chrissy was having to shout to be heard over the bass of the music.

“I remember you, you play for Uni off, are you ok?” Nicole turned to look at Chrissy and soon noted that she wasn’t alone. Waverly watched as she first licked her lips and then swallowed before speaking again.

“Waverly Earp.” She’d visibly been drinking as her accent showed more than Waverly noted before. Before they had a chance to say anything more Chrissy broke the tension

“I’m just going to get that drink. Can I get either of you something?” Chrissy didn’t wait for a response before walking away from the pair. She turned after a few steps and gave Waverly a quick thumbs up.

“Hi” It was weak, but it was all Waverly could muster up. She couldn’t help but feeling a little guilty when she looked at the taller girl in front of her, she was being more reserved around her after she hadn’t heard from Waverly. 

“I should go” Nicole pointing her thumb over her shoulder back towards her teammates and started to turn away from the younger girl. Though she still wasn’t sure what she wanted from the redhead she didn’t want her to leave, on instinct she reached out to halt her exit. Nicole whipped her head around while her body was still turned to walk away. Waverly watched as Nicole looked down at their joined hands and she thanked the club was too dark to show the blush that had crept up her cheeks. Where had that urge come from? Though the room was crowded and noisy Waverly only heard her heartrate thundering in her chest. She watched as a small smile spread upon Nicole’s lips. Waverly couldn’t get over how beautiful she looked in that moment. She allowed the alcohol in her system to make her more brazen than usual as an idea formed in her mind. She tugged slightly on Nicole’s hand testing the waters when she didn’t let go, she committed to her idea.

“This is my favourite song, dance with me?” Waverly looked Nicole in the eye and watched as she only nodded in response allowing Waverly to led them to the dancefloor. She cursed herself at claiming that Usher’s – Yeah was her favourite song but went with anyway. It was a high energy song and Waverly still needed a drink, but she pulled them both towards the centre of the dancefloor before she had a chance to think about her actions.

As the first chorus kicked in, she turned and faced Nicole, hoping to quell both her and Nicole’s nerves she smiled but didn’t meet Nicole’s eyes as she started swaying hips in time with the music, Nicole was clearly in some form of shock as she hardly moved and when she tried it was to no beat but her own. Their hands remained clasped together as the music continued. By the time, the second verse opened Waverly started to recall the lyrics encouraging her to dance closer and closer to Nicole all the while singing along. The close proximity awoke Nicole, regaining some of her composure to sway her body with the music and matching the way that Waverly moved. The ease of how well they fit together forced Waverly to smile and lift her eyes towards Nicole’s, who had clearly been watching the smaller woman the entire time. She couldn’t help herself as she continued to sing along when the words “I won’t stop ‘till I get ‘em in they birthday suit” exited her mouth she saw how the lyrics affected her dance partner. She watched as she eyes darkened and felt her other hand grab her hip, surprising her at how grounding the contact felt in the moment. They continued to sway throughout the song, but Waverly was no longer singing along. She’d placed her bottom lip between her teeth the moment she’d felt Nicole’s strong hand grasp her hip and found that all she cared to focus on in the instant was how close Nicole’s lips were to her own.

As they slowly closed the gap between them, they halted by the crashing force of someone ramming into them. As if by some cruel fate interfered Waverly looked over to find that it was her sister who had collided into them.

Waverly, unsure how much Wynonna had seen of their almost kiss sharply pulled away from Nicole and turned towards her sister. Wynonna was swaying heavily on her feet, something that either Waverly hadn’t noticed before or was a new development. She looked back to Nicole hoping to convey sorrow at their missed opportunity but also worry about the situation. Nicole not being one to force a situation withdrew her presence from Waverly, putting some distance between them and allowed them both to focus on Wynonna.

“Babygirl!” Wynonna shouted seemed genuinely surprised to find Waverly. Waverly hoped that it meant she hadn’t witnessed what she’s been planning on doing. Both Waverly and Nicole watched as Wynonna sobered up enough to notice that her little sister wasn’t alone, quickly ping-ponging her head between the pair.

“Come on Waves.” Wynonna didn’t giver her sister time to utter a response to Nicole before she was pulled away but mouthed she was sorry before she was pulled too far. Nicole flabbergasted by the whole situation forced a tightlipped smile while she nodded at the younger girl.

Wynonna managed to drag her sister towards the loos, where she had been heading originally and finally confronted her sister.

“What were you doing with Haught, you know she’s competition this year, right?” Wynonna was still holding her sisters’ arms and though she knew she had no right being mad with her sister the alcohol had, however, removed some of her common sense.

“Yeah of course, but that doesn’t mean I can’t say hi to her or have a dance does it?” Waverly pulled her arm free of Wynonna grip, she was confused by her sister attitude, she wasn’t usually against being friendly with other female players unless they played dirty.

“Sorry – of course, you can. Tequila makes me bitchy. Wait for me and we’ll join the others?” Wynonna nodded as she realised she’d overstepped. Waverly watched her sister use one of the free loos as she thought about what had just happened. She’d almost kissed Nicole, and in the few minutes, she was waiting for her sister all she could think about was what if Wynonna had interrupted them.

Both Earps made their way back towards their friends and danced until the lights started to come back on, Waverly and Chrissy decided to call it a night, it was just before 3 am and they had lectures in a few hours. They dragged Wynonna home with them to sleep off the binge she’d be on, not trusting her to make her way home alone safely and Mercedes shared a taxi with a few other girls that lived near her.

It was almost 4 am when Waverly crawled into bed, washing off god only knows what from her skin. Once more she grabbed the crumpled piece of paper next to her bed with Nicole’s information on. The memory of their chance meeting still fresh in her mind and fuelled by the alcohol that was burning in her system she inputted and saved the information into her phone. She started to draft a message before deleting and starting again. What did you say to someone three weeks after they had given you their number and then almost kissed, “ _Hi it’s Waverly_ ” or maybe “ _it was nice to see you tonight_ ”? She spent around 10 minutes thinking of what she should put. In the end and against her better judgement she sent “ _you move well on the pitch, but you move better on the dance floor. What are you doing this weekend?”_ before she changed her mind. She quickly turned her phone on silent, hoping to not think about when or if Nicole would reply and closed her eyes and replaying the evening back in her mind. 

# Nicole

Nicole awoke the next morning with a jolt, Dolls was banging on her bedroom door to wake her up.

“Nic, you’re late. Come on let’s go! We need to get this 5K in before our lecture at 12. Hurry up” She had promised to go running with him again before their first lecture, and after her night of debauchery with the team, she wished she hadn’t.

“Urgh, fine.” Nicole responded but wanted nothing more than to roll over and sleep further. She groaned as she turned over, she had not intended on drinking so much the night before but had got caught up being a good captain and joining her team on the night out and then after her almost kiss with Waverly Earp she couldn’t help but having a few more drinks to help calm her before she went home. She rolled over to check the time on her clock and noted it was only 9 am, she’d not managed much more than a few hours sleep. She’d spent hours tossing and turning thinking about the brunette who’d bumped into her, even now thinking about how close they had been on the dancefloor she felt herself blush and grin. As she went to stand up she grabbed her phone to check the rest of the team had made it home, she noted a text message from an unknown number which left her a little perplexed, _unless_ … she thought.

She found her lip between her teeth before she had a chance to stop herself, could it be that finally, Waverly had reached out. She had spent most of the night dancing with the team, and she had most of their numbers thanks to the group chat, who else could have texted her about her footwork and also ask her out? Was it a date? She swallowed and started to type out a reply, hoping to dare the message was from the younger girl.

Nic: _Waverly? If you think my fancy footwork doesn’t come out on to the pitch you wait until our first derby game :P_

She looked at the timestamp from the message she’d received, 4:07 am, she thought it was unlikely the younger girl would be awake yet. She put her phone on charge and hoped by the time she returned from her run with Dolls the younger girl might have responded. She quickly threw on her stash ahead of the run and headed downstairs to meet Dolls at the door with their water bottles full ahead of the run.

They spent the first few minutes of the run getting their muscles warmed up before they increased their pace. The past few weeks they had been working on explosive power, which meant running full pelt for a short time and then returning to a slow pace. She hoped by increasing her power it would allow her to maintain her speed for longer in future games, mostly she hoped it would make her faster over time.

“Late night Haught?” Nicole couldn’t help but notice the grin on Dolls face as he spoke.

“Yeah, sorry my first social as captain meant doing as many shots as the freshers, apparently.”

They continued on their run for a few more minutes, Nicole spent the time mulling over confiding in her friend about what happened last night, and the possible late-night message she had received from the younger girl. In the end, the need for his opinion and logical support won out against her possible embarrassment.

“Waverly Earp, she messaged me last night, well I think it was her. I saw her while I was out with the team. We danced together” Nicole forced her eyes to remain looking ahead while she spewed the thoughts as they entered her head. Dolls was always so calm and collected, so when he stopped running momentarily even he was a little shocked.

“Does that mean you’ll stop moping now then?” Dolls shaking his head as he caught up. Nicole didn’t need to look at him to know he was grinning, thinking he was funny.

“I wasn’t moping, I was just quite” Nicole wouldn’t admit it, but her charm hadn’t failed her before so she was surprised as the days went past and the younger girl still hadn’t reached out, she’d given up after she’d not heard anything as the time stretched into weeks. If she hadn’t seen the girl last night she knew things might be awkward when they played their first game against each other next month.

“Sure Cole, whatever you say. So what did the message say?” Dolls was curious, in the years he had known Nicole she had only had one serious relationship, and after the fallout, he and Jeremy had helped pick up the pieces. He hoped this time it would be different for his friend.

“Just something about my fancy footwork on a dancefloor was better than my rugby footwork” Nicole nonchalantly stated.

“So you think it was Waverly who sent the message then?” Dolls could see the logic but didn’t want to jump to any conclusions before the facts were in.

“Well yeah, like I said we danced together, and I didn’t dance with anyone else but the team, and I have their numbers already. I mean, I hope it’s her anyway.” Nicole knew the likelihood was high that it was the younger Earp girl but didn’t want to hold her breath, just yet. She turned to finally look at her friend, she could see him playing out possible solutions in his head.

By now the duo was almost reaching the final part of their run, it was 500 meters of pure uphill hell.

“This bit never gets easy” Nicole wished they had picked a house that wasn’t at the top of a hill sometimes, even if the view over the city at night was breathtaking.

“Come on, last one home cleans the rugby boots” Dolls grinned as he readied himself for the race. The previous training session had been wet for both parties and their boots had collected a lot of mud, that needed removing before their next training session.

“You’re on!” Nicole said as she started to run towards the hill and home while Dolls was close on her heels. He was soon able to catch the redhead and by the halfway mark was a few steps ahead. Nicole cursed herself, she still needed to work on increasing her speed. Both runners were forced to a dead halt at a junction just before theirs, Nicole knew it she needed to push the last 100 meters if she was going to win. She watched as the traffic filled the road, and watched for a gap in the flow, after a few cars she spotted her opportunity. She leaned forward and put her weight on her lead foot ready. As the gap between the traffic got closer she knew it would be close but she could make it, she didn’t look around to Dolls focusing solely on herself. She breathed one last time and lunged forward towards the gap in traffic, she was across the road before Dolls had the chance to react. Nicole pushed her legs forward, her feet slapping on the ground, the closer she got to the crest of the hill, the more she was forced to lean forward to compensate for incline. She could hear Dolls gaining on her, his longer legs helping to reduce Nicole’s lead. By the time they rounded the corner of their road, they were neck and neck. They had less than 20 meters left, and finally, the road had flattened out. Dolls started to push ahead once more, Nicole kept pace with him but watched as he reached towards the front door seconds before her.

“Fuck!” Nicole bent over and forced more air into her lungs, she was annoyed she wasn’t able to beat her friend, but she felt good, the run had helped her clear her body of the remnants of the previous night.

“Sorry Haught, you’ve still got some work to do, you can clean our boots after lectures later” Dolls unlocked the door allowing Nicole to enter first.

“Sure X, you can make dinner though” Nicole threw over her shoulder as she made her way towards her room, she needed to shower before they headed into uni for the day. She was starting to smell and she knew the shower would help ease her muscles.

“Can do!” Dolls finished locking the door and headed towards his room so he could shower as well.

Nicole had showered quickly and returned to her room, she went to dry her hair, it was longer than Nicole had seen it in a long time, it was well below her shoulders and she knew she should get it cut soon, ideally before the first game, it would make plaiting it quicker. She grabbed an old black t-shirt and some jeans, before returning to her phone. She was relieved to see that she had indeed received a message back from the unknown number.

_Wave: Fudgenuggets. Hi, Nicole yes, it’s Waverly. Sorry about that_

Nicole couldn’t help but laugh, who said Fudgenuggets? She really was adorable.

_Nic: It’s ok. So, this weekend, I’m working Saturday at the football game, but my Sunday is pretty open currently. What about you?_

Nicole wanted nothing more than to ask the younger girl out again, but she didn’t want to take the drunk text at more than face value until Waverly was ready to take the next step, even if that meant being just her friend.

_Wave: Well I was hoping I could take you to my favourite place in the peaks if you had the time?_

Nicole couldn’t help but smile, she was looking forward to seeing where Waverly Earp enjoyed spending her time, she knew so little about the brunette but she knew she wanted to know everything about her, she didn’t want to push her but she wanted to be clear about her intentions.

_Nic: For you I always have time._

She hoped the truth behind the message was clear enough for the Earp girl to understand.

_Wave: Ok great, if you send me your address I can pick you up on Sunday morning around 8 am? I’ll pick up some coffee as well._

Nicole sent the younger girl her details and told her she was looking forward to seeing her bright and early Sunday morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus points for anyone can guess what I was tasked with eating during my bush tucker trail!
> 
> So I hope we're all ready for the first game of the season coming up - but first, our duo are going walking together. It's one of my favourite places to visit when I'm in Sheffield (which I am currently in) so I'm hoping to see it tomorrow and get some pictures for you guys so you can see how pretty the area is. 
> 
> Hope no one is too upset for their missed kissing chance, but I promise it will be worth the wait!
> 
> Also who thinks Wyn clocked Waverly and Nic?


	4. October - Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We finally get a sneak peek of where Waverly likes to spend her spare time and even get a little dirty in the process ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've made the choice to split October into three sections this time around as it would have been a long wait between updates (and no one likes that!) and it would have been one huge chapter!

# Nicole

Finally, Sunday had arrived. Nicole was getting dressed for her outing with the younger Earp girl. Though Waverly hadn’t told her exactly where they would be going, she advised the redhead to bring a warm waterproof jacket as well as sturdy walking boots, telling her that the weather in peaks wasn’t always predictable.

As she laced up her boots, she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and noted that it was from Waverly.

Waverly: 5 minutes away

Nicole checked the time, 7:55 am, if nothing else, Waverly was punctual she mused to herself. She headed out of the front door and waited outside the new build so that Waverly would know where to stop. The sun had only just started to peek over the horizon and left a bite of frost in the early autumn air. Nicole pulled the zipper on her puffer jacket further up to help fight the chill, she knew once they were moving that she’d warm up.

As she waited, she couldn’t stop her mind from wandering to where the day was about to take her. She’d explored the peaks over the years that she’d been living in the city but it had always been with Dolls, the two friends would set out with their packs full of supplies and map in hand to find different vantage points and sometimes rockfaces that they could use for bouldering. This was new for her, she’d always had a rough idea where they would be going before the hike, sometimes changing the route because of ground conditions. This time she was going in blind and was trusting the younger girl would be able to guide them, and that she wouldn’t need to pull out the maps she’d packed away at the bottom of her bag along with a few emergency supplies that she always took when hiking.

Another concern for the redhead was the uncertainty of what the day was, was it just two friends once more or was it something that included hope, she wasn’t sure and though they had both talked about the day neither had addressed the elephant in the room.

As the familiar red Jeep pulled around the corner Nicole was yanked back to reality, retrieving her bag from the floor and slinging it over her shoulder. As she stepped towards the curb she caught the eyes of the driver and couldn’t help but smile knowing that she’d be spending the day with the small but mighty brunette.

As Waverly pulled over Nicole saw a hint of a blush form on the younger girl cheeks, remembering they almost kissed a few days ago Nicole couldn’t help as her cheeks coloured. She knew that they would have to talk about that at some point, but not now. As she went to grab the door handle she saw a small pile of travel mugs in the footwell, the confusing sight caused Nicole to tilt her head.

“hey you, I didn’t think to ask what you liked to drink, so I brought a selection. The black one has black coffee, the red has white coffee and the blue has tea. I also brought brown and white sugar” As she spoke, she leaned over to open the glove compartment allowing Nicole to see two small containers filled with sugars and a spoon in each.

“Waverly Earp, you really are a planner aren’t you? Well, I can drink either the white coffee or the tea, with one sugar for the record, so which one would you prefer?” Nicole was now positioned in the passenger seat of the car and was leaning forward to collect their options, missing the smirk that played along Waverly’s lips.

“I was hoping to keep the tea for myself, but without the sugar, if that’s ok with you?” Waverly requested. As Nicole handed Waverly the blue travel mug, she flexed her fingers at the moment Waverly reached for the mug ensuring that their fingers brushed against each other for a moment before Nicole removed her grip from the mug acting like nothing happened to help gauge the Earp’s response.

As Nicole adjusted her position to sit forward and get the sugar from the glove compartment she kept a careful watch for a reaction from the younger girl. She noted that Waverly had tactility placed the mug across her face, hiding a large portion of her face from Nicole but doesn’t drink. Unsure if she’s already pushed the younger girl too far she knows she must tread carefully.

“So where are we heading this early on a Sunday morning?” Nicole asked as she reached for the seatbelt in hopes of cutting through the tension that was rising in the car.

“It’s a surprise, you’ll see soon enough” Waverly started the engine back up as soft music helped fill the silence of the car journey.

“Kacey Musgraves? Waverly Earp, the rugby player, also a fan of country music. I bet you also listen to Taylor Swift as well don’t you?” Nicole didn’t know what kind of music Waverly would be into but was somewhat surprised it wasn’t the typical Top 40.

“Well of, course, T-Swift is the bomb and though I do like her pop feel, ‘Red’ and ‘Speak Now’ were better albums in opinion, the country twang she has is something else. Having said that ‘You need to calm down’ was a pure political genius move.” Waverly spoke with confidence about her love for country music so much so that Nicole couldn’t help but smile at the statement, she was glad to have something simple in common with the women at least.

“I agree, it was a big ‘fuck you’ to the shit that’s been going off in America.”

“If you want to change the music please do though” As Waverly spoke she indicated her head towards her phone that sat in a cradle near the centre of the dash without taking her eyes off the road. Nicole reached over to grab the phone, the text Waverly had sent her was still up on the screen and Nicole needed to find the media player, Waverly reading her mind helped her find the app.

“If you’re on the home screen, Spotify is at the top right”

“Thanks” Nicole looked up from the screen and made eye contact with the girl who’s phone was in her hands. Nicole couldn't help but smile, they hadn’t spent any time together, other than training and one drunk night dancing and yet the younger girl trusted her with the device. When Waverly looked away Nicole released a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding and also forced her mind back to the task, she looked once more at the phone and scrolled through Waverly’s playlists. She noted the typical ‘study’, ‘work out’ and even an aubergine emoji playlist that made Nicole shift uncomfortably in her seat, and she realised that she hadn’t thought to ask about her relationship status before, making a mental note to ask today. In the end, Nicole selected the ‘Liked song’ list that Spotify generated whenever Waverly liked a song, hoping to see a range of musical tastes from the young driver. As Nicole hit the shuffle button she heard the first notes of the song fill the speakers of the car. At first, she didn’t recognise the song, but as the piano solo started to reach her ears she started to smirk. It was a much heavier version than the original. As the song hit the first verse Nicole watched as Waverly started to tap her fingers along with the steering wheel and the soft hum of Waverly's voice reached her ears. By the time the song reached the chorus both girls were singing along at full volume.

> _And I still need you  
>  And I still miss you  
> And now I wonder_
> 
> _If I could fall into the sky_  
>  Do you think time would pass us by?  
> 'Cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles  
> If I could just see you

As the song ended both girls found that their eyes had drifted towards each other, thankfully they were forced to stop by a red light. Neither girl said anything as the next song started to fill the space of the car, neither wanted to break the contact. They stared at each other for what felt like a lifetime until Nicole spoke.

“The light has gone green”

“Shit-tickets” Waverly threw the car back into gear and drove away from the junction forcing her eyes to remain on the road. Nicole noticed that at some point during the interaction she’d placed her bottom lip between her teeth. She knew she’d had to fight her natural instincts when around the younger girl, she didn’t want to startle her. They drove by in relative silence for a few more songs, Nicole took note that between the country songs that played, Waverly also had a liking for heavy base songs as well.

“Well colour me impressed Miss Earp. I was worried we’d have to listen to sad country songs the whole journey” Nicole wasn’t bothered by listening to country songs and enjoyed listening to them often, but it felt good to tease the younger girl.

“You’ve seen nothing yet Haught. Hey, Google play Transmission by Zedd” Waverly was giving off the aura of pure confidence as she turned her head to smirk and raised an eyebrow at her passenger as if to challenge her to keep up. Nicole found the way she could take charge intoxicating and kept reminding herself of her vow to remain friends and not cross that line.

Though Nicole had heard of the artist she didn’t know the song so was surprised when Waverly had requested the AI play the track. As the song started Nicole felt the base of the notes fill her chest as Waverly turned the volume up. They had now left the city limits and had very little chance of waking anyone with the volume of the track. Nicole found her head soon nodding along to the beat of the song and was completely bewitched to see the driver not only knew all the words to the song but could switch between singing and rapping perfectly. She watched as the smaller girl would take a deep breath between sections before belting out the next section.

> _Uh, tell me is it the day I made it?_
> 
> _Feel like the world is over,_
> 
> _Don't know why I've been created_
> 
> _I've been under pressure but nevertheless_
> 
> _I know nothing can measure_
> 
> _Feeling outdated, everybody inebriated_
> 
> _Feel like I'm automated, I'm automated, I'm automated_
> 
> _No, never faded, but debated, a visionary that made it_
> 
> _As it escalated, I elevated and feel like I raided the game_
> 
> _'Cause all of this, it just sounded the same in my mind_

As the song started to fade out Waverly turned the volume back down allowing them the speak once more. Only now noticing the shell shocked look visible on Nicole’s face.

“Wynonna plays her music pretty loud whenever she’s home, and some of it isn’t too bad” Shrugging nonchalantly like her performance didn’t affect her passenger.

“What? Why are you staring at me like that?” Nicole knew she’d been staring but was a little worried about being called out for it, she couldn’t tell her that the way she’d commanded the song was completely breathtaking.

“Waverly Earp you are full of surprises” She hoped that the statement wasn’t too much of omission.

The rest of the drive seemed to pass by in a blur, Nicole stared out of the window as the roads started to wind slowing upwards towards the hilly peak district. Though Nicole was occupied with the view of the great outdoors, she kept sneaking glances at the driver. Though the drive only lasted 30 minutes she watched as the closer they got to their mystery destination Waverly demeanour showed signs of relaxing. Nicole watched as Waverly’s shoulders visible dropped as her muscles eased, releasing tension that Nicole had realised was there before.

“You like being out here don’t you?” Nicole hadn’t meant to break the now comfortable silence but wanted to know everything about the brunette.

“Yes, when my daddy and sister died my uncle Curtis would take me and Wynonna out her all the time. He always said we could scream, shout or just run around if we need to. It helped us heal.” Waverly hadn’t meant for the conservation to become so sombre but she didn’t want to lie about why this place was special to her. She forced her eyes to remain on the road so that Nicole couldn’t see the tears that were threatening to fall. Even after all these years she still missed them both dearly. No matter how bad things got, they were her family and she wished that things had been different.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know you’d lost family.” Nicole reached over to place her hand on Waverly’s forearm and squeezed gently hoping to reassure her.

“Thank you, It was a long time ago.” Waverly placed her hand over Nicole’s and smiled at the redhead before returning her focus back to driving, thus releasing Nicole's hand.

After a few more minutes they pulled into a large car park and parked near an obvious trail that was attached to what Nicole assumed was either a hotel or a pub.

“Welcome to Fox House, Nicole. I was thinking since we set off super early we could stop in for a small bite before we go hiking?”

“Me and Dolls have passed here a few times, but we’ve never been in. I wouldn’t mind a small food stop before we start. Are you going to tell me where we’re heading yet?”

“Nope” As Waverly spoke she unclipped her belt and went to exit the vehicle. She grabbed her pack from the rear of the car and waited for Nicole to catch up before locking the car and made their way towards the front door.

After chatting over some food and another hot drink Nicole discovered that Waverly was a vegetarian and had been for many years and that their first stop of the day would be Mother Cap a short walk away. After collecting their belongings they made their way back towards the car and the trail that Nicole had noted earlier.

“God I just love the smell out here. Strangely, I grew up by the sea, so I know what fresh air smells like, but whenever I’ve been in the peaks with Dolls it always smells different. Like it’s a more fuller breath, you know?”

“Well I’ve never seen the sea, so I can’t compare, but I do know what you mean. It’s why I come out here to escape the city and the hustle of streets. I feel like up here I’m just free from everything”

The mile to Mother Cap they walked in relative silence. As they got closer Nicole could see why Waverly picked this as the starting point of the day, it was high enough to get a great view of the valley. They only spoke to discuss the terrain advising each other about mud or something they could trip on. Neither felt the need to fill the stillness, both happy to listen to the nature around them. The only noise was the greeting they would offer towards other walkers out on the trail. After the final push towards the steep incline of the hill, they both sat on the stones at the top and admired the view. Allowing their breathing to return to normal, they sat in silence for a few minutes before Nicole worked up the courage to address something Waverly had said.

“What did you mean earlier, when you said ‘when you’re here you felt free from everything’?” Nicole dared to sneak a side glance at the girl and watched as Waverly’s mouth opened and closed a few times as if trying to determine what she wanted to say. It was a few moments before Nicole looked away hoping she hadn’t asked too much.

“Daddy wasn’t the best, he didn’t know how to handle three girls after my momma left us, and being the youngest everyone always tried to shield me from the truth. For years I didn’t know the truth about their death... I was told that they were killed by a drunk driver, so for years, I looked for a face in cars that passed us. Was that the person that took my family away from me? It wasn’t until a few years ago that I was told the truth. It was my own father that was drunk, it was him that caused the accident that took him and Willa away from us. I don’t think I’ll ever truly forgiven him for his actions. But out here, I can let it go even if it’s not for very long, I feel like I’m my own woman. I’m not Waverly Early with a drunk daddy who killed his daughter, I’m not Wynonna Earps little sister living in her shadow or trying to keep her out of trouble. I can make my own choices, I can live my life how I want, with the people I want.” Waverly hadn’t meant to share some much of her pain with Nicole, but she’d felt so at ease the truth had escaped her lips before she’d had the chance to stop herself.

“You’re an extraordinary woman Waverly and anyone who has you in their life is so much better for it. I’ve never met someone who fills a room with so much light and joy, and now that I know you’ve overcome so much. It makes me realise how lucky I am to be included in your orbit, for however long you’ll allow.” Throughout both speeches, the women had kept their eyes facing the view too shy to search out the other, but as Nicole finished speaking Waverly whipped her head around, the motion causing Nicole to turn and soon found that Waverly’s eyes were searching her own for something she couldn’t quite place, so she poured as much compassion and truth into her eyes as she could. She knew she had shared a large part of who she was, and she wanted Waverly to know she could be trusted to guard her truth.

It felt like a lifetime that Waverly peered into her eyes, trying to understand why she’d spoken those words, but eventually, she must have found what she was searching for. Nicole watched as her shoulders released some tension that she held there and a small smile ghosted her lips. Nicole saw some stray hair fall onto Waverly’s face and as if on instinct she leaned over to tuck the hair behind Waverly’s ear. She wasn’t sure if it was the cool October air or the proximity of the two but noticed the younger girl shiver. Afraid she’d overstepped she pulled back her hand into her lap and forced her eyes away from the stunning brunette. The only sound in Nicole’s ears was her heartbeat as it hammering against her chest, internally she chastised herself once more for the intimate act.

“We should get a move on before we get too cold and stiff sat on these stones” Nicole quickly stood up and offered her hand to the smaller woman still sat down. Waverly took the offered hand and allowed Nicole to pull her to her feet but was taken off guard by how strong the redhead was and ended up being flung towards the older girl, thankfully Nicole had seen their mistake and anticipated the impact, ensuring they didn’t fall. The air seemed to be sucked from her lungs by the sensation of the closeness and watched as Waverly licked her lips causing Nicole's stomach to flip. 

“Hi” She hadn’t meant it to come out so husky, but the smell that she was starting to associate with Waverly Earp was filling up her senses and making it hard for her to breath.

“Hi” Waverly blushed as she spoke and started to stand on her tiptoes allowing them to see eye to eye.

“Good morning!” the unfamiliar voice broke the spell and both girls jumped apart and greeted the group of walkers that were about to reach the crest of the hill. Though they hadn’t done anything, the girls couldn’t help but blush profusely at the idea of being caught in a compromising position. Nicole couldn’t understand what had happened, that was twice that Waverly had almost kissed her, the first time she was drunk and though she loathed to say it, she could understand a drunken experiment, but this was different. Both were stone-cold sober and the way she looked at Nicole it made her head spin and heart skip a beat at the same time. Did she have the right to hope for more?

Nicole took a lungful of air and in an attempt to bring them both back to normality asked the only question she knew that would allow me to move forward with the day.

“So which way now Waves?” She knew she was still a little breathless but she didn’t want them to dwell and knew moving forward was the best option.

“We head North to Stanage Edge” and she pointed in the general direction that they would head next.

For almost an hour they walk towards Stanage Edge in silence neither girl knew what to say that could address what had just happened. Nicole knew she’d have to talk with the younger girl and let her know she wasn’t interested in being someone’s experiment, she’d had her feelings hurt over the years with girls who wanted to dabble, she just hoped that she could do it so that it wouldn’t ruin their friendship. She enjoyed the younger girls enthusiasm and view on life, she cherished the idea of having Waverly as a friend, if she let her. However, she knew she couldn’t do that out here in the middle of nowhere she’d have to wait and bide her time until Waverly was also ready to talk about their almost-kisses.

“So why rugby?” Waverly broke the new awkward silence before Nicole could berate herself further.

“I grew up in the south of nowhere, the town is only known because of the beach and each year floods with tourists, by the age of 15 I’d seen everything my little town had to offer and so I started to look around for different things I could do. I tried horse riding, volleyball and every water sport you could think of. But nothing seemed to keep my attention for too long, once I’d learned the basics I was bored and went to the next challenge. Eventually, a teacher suggested I go along to a touch session that his daughter had been attending and the fast pace of the game just lured me in I loved it. I think I picked up most of my footwork from just spending my evenings playing aggressive tag.” The comment made Waverly laugh and spurred Nicole on to keep telling her about her love for the sport. “After a few months, one of the youth coaches pulled me to the side and told me to try out training with the under 16’s girl's team, I asked my parents and they were pretty against it for a long time, but they caved after I nagged them enough. I loved the sport ever since, and when I came to visit Hallam’s campus we even visited the sports park to see what facilities they offered. I wanted to make sure that I could keep playing, I needed to push myself to develop my skills. When I joined the women’s team at Hallam I knew I’d made the right choice. The team can goof off and piss about at training, but when we play it’s like being out there with my family, I trust them to protect me. Most of the friends I’ve made here in Sheffield excluding Dolls and Jermey I’ve met through playing rugby. When I first started playing I was a back if you could believe, they had me on the wing for a few matches but I always wanted to join in the action, so they tried me at scrum-half. By the time I went into my second year I told Ryan, our coach, that I thought I’d be better suited in the forward pack. I’d spent the summer bulking up with Dolls and knew I could add some weight to the pack. Ryan agreed and had me try a few positions over the first few games until we both agreed that being a flanker allowed me to still use my speed when breaking from the pack and meant I was always close to the action. What about you?” Nicole could feel the tension slip from the air around them and risked a glance at her hiking partner who was looking at her with admiration.

“Well after everything with daddy, Wynonna went a little off the rails, looking back now I think her keeping a secret from me didn’t sit well with her, but knowing that she was protecting me kept her from telling me. At some point our uncle caught Wynonna dump tackling some boy teasing me at school, so introduced us to rugby. He signed us up for some under 10’s club in the area and it became the thing that allowed me and Wynonna to focus on things that we could control. It became such a large part of our lives and even now we make sure to watch as many games together as a family and my aunt and uncle make sure they come and watch the varsity game each year. I know what you mean about family though, whenever I’m out there I feel invincible, which is stupid considering I go home with at least one bruise but being able to push all the noise of life away for 80 minutes and just focus on the game and my team, it just grounds me.” Nicole heard as the passion-filled Waverly’s words as she spoke about the game they both loved.

“It sounds like rugby is in the family then”

“Yeah, it sure is.” Both girls looked at each other and smile again.

“Talking of family, tell me about yours?” Waverly didn’t seem to want them talking and Nicole wasn’t going to disappoint.

“Well it’s just me, mum and dad, they met at art school and got married a few years later, I was a happy accident and we’re pretty close. I just knew staying in Dorset wasn’t for me. They love it in the quiet lane, but I’ve always wanted the city life.”

“So no one else who’s important to you?” Nicole was surprised at the turn in conversation but knew she could use this development to her advantage.

“Not really, just the boys. They became my second family, but no one else. I dated a girl during my first year, but it didn’t end well and the only girls that seemed interested were LUG’s”

“LUG?” Nicole wasn’t surprised to see a perplexed look on the younger girl's face, after using the slang term.

“Lesbian until graduation, looking for someone to experiment with, I’m more for longterm.” Nicole hoped that this would allow her to express to Waverly she didn’t want that again without hurting her feelings, allowing them to remain friends”

“Oh… wow. That’s horrible, I’m sorry to hear that”

“That’s ok, I guess university is a learning experience for everyone. What about you, anyone special?”

“Not anymore. I was with a boy… man… before university. But he tried to hit on Chrissy. I knew he’d cheated before, but when he tried it with my best friend it was the last straw. Wyn was so happy when I told her, she threw me a party. Since then I’ve just kept my nose in my books”

“Boy, man yep I’ve been there. It’s the worst. He sounds like a total knob, I’m sorry.” On one hand, Nicole know knew that Waverly wasn’t seeing anyone, but she worried she might have shut down any opportunity by saying she was after something long term.

As they drew closer to the top of the hill Nicole noticed how the clouds above them had started to darken and prayed that they would make it back to the car before the heaven's opened on them. Upon reaching the summit they once again sat down to admire the view, this time however Nicole made sure to sit on a different rock just slightly apart from the other girl ensuring she wouldn’t be tempted to enter her personal space. She grabbed her pack and rummaged to find the snack bars she’d thrown in the previous night and offered one to Waverly who gratefully accepted. They sat eating their snacks for a while longer watching the clouds slowly draw in above them.

“We should head back, the clouds are starting to look a little ominous.” Though Nicole hated the idea of cutting their time short, she knew it would be at least an hour before they reached the car and she didn’t want them to be out in the rain longer than necessary.

“Yeah you’re right, we should make some tracks” Waverly spoke as she stood up and grabbing her bag. They slowly made their way back down the hill watching out for potholes and loose rocks that they had encountered on their way up.

“Thank you by the way. For bringing me out here today, I don’t think I knew how much I needed to be out here. Final year can be pretty tough and I guess I needed to blow some steam”

“You’re welcome. Normally it's a family thing, this is the first time I’ve ever brought anyone out here before.” The realisation hitting Waverly like a ton of bricks and for the first time, Nicole could read her nervous expression.

“Well, I appreciate being the first person you’ve shared this with.” Though surprised by the revelation she was glad that she could share the experience and time with the young Earp women. Hoping to keep the conversation going as they headed back towards the car Nicole kept thinking of things that they could talk about.

“I can understand why you like it here, whenever I’ve been out here before me and Dolls have overlooked the area. I’m glad I had such a good guide, though I did bring a few maps, you know just in case.”

“Nicole Haught!? I’m shocked you didn’t trust me to get us around here in one piece” At first Nicole was scared she’d upset the small brunette with her omission of bringing maps but when she looked over to start apologising she saw that Waverly was grinning at her and not to be outdone.

“Well to be fair, I didn’t know if you were an axe murder who’d lured me here in hopes of killing the competition.” The remark earned her a thump to her shoulder from the younger causing both women to laugh. They spent the rest of the walk back to Mother cap talking about their university courses and how Waverly was adjusting to the student lifestyle, the previous awkwardness long forgotten. By the time they reached the summit once more, the rain had started, causing them to increase their pace as they headed back towards the car.

“Be careful it’s starting to get slippy” As she spoke Nicole’s feet slipped from under her causing her to reach out and grab Waverly who halted her fall.

“Almost!” Waverly couldn’t help but laugh at seeing Nicole acting like Bambi on ice for a moment.

“Thanks, I hope we can make it back to the car without any broken bones.” As Nicole spoke she watched in slow motion as Waverly’s footing slipped causing her to yelp as she went down, Nicole tried reaching forward hoping to catch the girl before she hit the floor, but as she reached to grab her hands she felt them slip through her fingers before she could grasp them. Waverly landed with a soft thud on the wet ground.

“Well, I guess that was karma for laughing at you.” Nicole was by her side in an instant offering her a hand back up, once up both girls assessed the damage and were happily surprised that nothing was too sore, but Waverly’s trousers were now completely caked in mud on one side.

“Nothing like a bruised ego to finish off a walk” Waverly couldn’t help but puff at the turn of events as they kept walking.

It took another 20 minutes before they reached the outskirts of the car park and by the time they reached the car, the downpour had eased but both were now starting to find damp spots on their clothes. To further ruin the walk, Waverly had started to shiver as the muddy soaked trousers clung to her skin bringing her core temperature down.

“Take your trousers off” Nicole directed the younger girl as she reached into her pack and pulled something out.

“Excuse me?” Waverly blushed by the forwardness of the command.

“Sorry… I just meant you’re cold and wet and we need to warm you back up. I always carry an emergency blanket that you can use to wrap yourself in and I can drive us back if you’re ok with that?” as she spoke she pulled the foil-like blanket from the packaging and started pulling it apart. Once she’d finished she looked over to Waverly.

If you hold this for a second I can undo your boots and then I can hold it around you while you take them off if you’d like?” Nicole couldn’t help but blush knowing that she’d had to invade the younger girl's personal space once more but hoped under the circumstances it wouldn’t come across inappropriate.

“Ok” Waverly didn’t know what else to say and took the blanket from and wrapped it around her upper body while she watched Nicole unlacing and remove her boots.

“Ok if you give the blanket and I’ll close my eyes while you get them off, take it from me when you’re ready” As soon as Waverly passed her the blanket she closed her eyes as promised and listened to the girl struggle to remove the damp clothing from her lower body.

“You can open your eyes now, how did you know to do that?” As Waverly spoke she removed the blanket from the taller women's hands and wrapped it tightly around her lower half, hoping to trap the heat.

“Oh… ha well all the women at festivals do it for each other, with coats, so they can wee on the ground” Nicole had finally opened her eyes and quickly stepped back to give Waverly some space.

“No, they don’t!” Clearly amused by the new piece of information.

“Yeah it’s a sight the first time, but the more you see it the more you wish the blokes would do the same” As Nicole spoke she watched as Waverly bent to grab her boots and trousers and fish her keys from the pocket before holding them out toward Nicole.

“Be gentle with my baby ok?”

“Yes ma’am” Making sure her voice drawled as she tipped her pretend hat.

They both climbed back into the vehicle after removing their wet jackets and Nicole started the car and turned the heating on full to help warm the younger girl up.

“God, you’re still shivering.” Nicole couldn’t help but be concerned about how much she was affected by the drop in temperature.

“Yeah, I’m a little nesh. Kinda why I’m always running during games or I’d go blue in no time.” Despite her shivering, she still couldn’t help but laugh at her own joke.

“Ok, if you go in my bag I brought a spare hoodie if I got cold, please put it on.”

“You’re like a boy scout, you know that right?” Though she teased she did grab the bag and gratefully pulled on the hoodie over her fleece.

“You know, Nicole, you always smell like vanilla-dipped doughnuts. They’re kinda my favourite.” Nicole grabbed the steering wheel tighter, causing her knuckles to turn white, as the conversation changed she knew she’d have to act to allow them more time together.

“Waverly I was thinking since your trousers are soaked and you’re half frozen. You should… you should come back to mine. I can give you some spare trousers and you could have a shower and maybe I could make us some food?” Nicole rushed the words out of her mouth before she changed her mind but kept her gaze focused on the road refusing to look at the other girl.

“I could eat” Had Nicole dared to look, she would have seen the smirk that was plastered over Waverly’s face at the thought of spending more time with her.

They drove the remained of their way back into the Sheffield city centre making ideal chit-chat and listening to the radio. By the time they had pulled up outside Nicole’s house, Waverly had stopped shivering but still look a little blue. Nicole grabbed her bag from the rear of the car and locked the vehicle before returning the keys to the owner. She led them inside and was glad to find the house was much warmer than outside.

“I’ll show you my room and where you can shower.” Nicole who had already removed her shoes and started to make her way upstairs towards her room.

“Ok” Waverly spoke as she followed her host.

They soon reached the top of the stairs and Nicole opened the door to her room.

“So this is my room, you can get changed in here and you’re welcome to wear these, I’ll head downstairs and make us a drink and start on some food. Take your time.” As she spoke she grabbed her softest joggers and a baggy t-shirt that Waverly could change into. As she exited the wardrobe she turned around to see Waverly studying her room.

“You’ve really made this space your own. I didn’t peg you for a book lover” Nicole watched as Waverly took in the wall of pictures that she’d hung up and turned to make a beeline for her bookcase and observed as she read the spines with her fingers stroking them

“Yeah… I think I’ve always been drawn to escaping I guess. I think that’s why I always choose fantasy or sci-fi.” She hadn’t thought about bringing Waverly into her sanctuary and sharing so much and the fear caused her to rub the back of her neck.

“You’ve got them in alphabetical order, don’t you? Nicole Haught, you are a nerd!” Even wrapped in the emergency blanket and wet socks Nicole couldn’t deny that at that moment as she turned to look at her she was radiant.

“Whoa there don’t be saying that too loud, I have the jock stereotype to live up to you know.” Nicole couldn’t help but move into the smaller girl's personal space once again drawn to her but made sure to reach and close the curtains.

“Towels are in the bathroom, I’ll be downstairs.” Nicole left the room and fought the urge to turn around and capture the younger girl's eyes any maybe her lips.

When she reached the bottom floor of the house she stood holding onto the kitchen side for support.

“Well….fuck.” Nicole was sure she was in trouble and cursed herself for suggesting she’d cook.

“Right Nic pull yourself together and make some tea” She pushed herself off the side and went to turn the kettle on. While she waited for the kettle to finish boiling she put a teabag in each of the two cups and sugar in her mug and grabbed the speaker that she’d left on the side. Music would help calm her nerves, but knowing the woman she was yearning after was naked and in her shower was enough to drive her wild.

“Jesus” She blew out her breath and grabbed her phone. Knowing that Waverly would approve she hit shuttle on her guilty pleasure playlist. The first track was “Mood Ring” by Britney and it was enough to start distracting her. She started to nod her head while she topped the drinks up with milk. While the music played on she started to grab things from the fridge to start prepping while she waiting for Waverly to return. As time passed she started to sing along while chopping the veg, when Carrie Underwood came on she couldn’t resist putting the knife down, belt out the lyrics while swaying her hips.

> _That I dug my key into the side_
> 
> _Of his pretty little souped-up four-wheel drive_
> 
> _Carved my name into his leather seats_
> 
> _I took a Louisville slugger to both headlights_
> 
> _I slashed a hole in all four tires_
> 
> _Maybe next time he'll think before he cheats_

Unbeknownst to Nicole, Waverly had made her way down to the kitchen and caught her redhanded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't hate me too much A) my cheesy music taste. B) the somewhat cliffhanger ending, I promise it's worth the wait (also our first rugby game is coming up!)
> 
> Highly recommend getting yourself out into the Yorkshire peaks once the world is a little safer. 
> 
> Let me know you're thoughts!

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact of the chapter: the cheeky bum watching happened to me, and the girl who did it will (all being well) well become my wife this year.
> 
> Next chapter we'll get our first meeting of our dynamic duo, and some rugby related funness


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